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bbrandy2002 · 3 years

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Fool’s Rush In

Part 10

I’m participating in @wackydrabbles prompt 71 “Dont be stubborn. Try it.”

Word Count: 1890

Pairing: Liam and Riley

Thanks @burnsoslow for beta reading and pretty much having to drag me across the finish line, as well as all the weeks and weeks of listening to me whine and pity myself. And @emkay512 for pre-reading and your encouraging words late Monday that made my whole night.

a/n: this is crack, plain and simple. I haven’t written since mid-october; just been paralyzed with fear over my own writing and this is my practice run and basically the best I could come up with. I’m going to try so so hard to finish this series

The new royal couple, fresh off their Vegas flight, stepped up to a makeshift podium the press had created on the tarmac. It was packed tightly with news station microphones crammed in every nook and cranny, one on top of the other. Voice recorders were spread across its surface, and the crown's private jet served as the backdrop. A bevy of frenzied reporters -- domestic and international -- pushed and elbowed their way into one another in hopes of getting the closest shot of the newlyweds and a chance to have their questions answered first.

“King Liam! Is the marriage binding?”

“How long have you known, Miss Brooks?”

“Were you trying to make a political statement by having a hooker at the ceremony?”

“Your Majesty! Will the monkey be joining your court soon?”

So many questions, most followed by laughter and snickers directed at the King and his bride.

Liam frowned as his eyes dashed side to side in a diligent effort to understand the literally thousands of questions that were lobbed at him all at once. He blinked rapidly as one flash of a camera after the next blinded and bleached his vision. Just as it would return to normal, another successive set of flashes would set him back again.

He had been a part of news conferences since he was a child, when he would watch his late father speak from different parts of the world, near and far, about this policy or that deal. Yet this was different. This was not only the biggest breaking story in Cordonia -- or even Europe -- but one that had swept the world.

His drunken actions two nights ago, no doubt, would have created a stir; however, it was Maxwell's post on Instagram of the ceremony that now made him tabloid fodder. Everyone knew about the king who was married by his own brother and an Elvis impersonator, the leg-humping monkey that served as a ring bearer, and the chain-smoking, tube-top-wearing prostitute who was the maid of honor. As confident as Liam had been that he could handle this, as he'd dealt with so many other stories of intrigue regarding the monarchy, he couldn't dispel the twisting feeling that burrowed deep into the pit of his stomach.

Maybe Madeleine was right: he had become a laughingstock. A failure. Just one big fuck up.

As much as he hated to hear the things said about him, he could deal with it. In the morning, he would call Prince Harry to swap stories, survival tips, and perhaps share a good laugh about it.

It was just ...

Liam felt Riley's tiny hand grip his a little tighter. He wouldn't blame her one bit if his little pussycat turned around and headed back up the steps to the jet and returned to Las Vegas. The only thing Liam wanted to do was keep her shielded from the hurtful comments and insensitive questions. But to his astonishment, she stood there with all the feigned confidence in the world, flashing a big, beaming smile that lit his heart on fire, while staring back at him affectionately. She was handling the situation better than she was before they stepped off the plane. He knew she was doing it for him. God, she just makes everything better.

Feeling a little more grounded and in control, Liam returned her smile. A touch of radiance sparkled between his eyes and hers, as if it were some sort of unspoken conversation only they understood. Riley knew exactly what he needed at that moment to rise above this scandal they were both being raked over the coals for: He needed her to be okay.

Raising his free hand to calm the crowd so that he might address their concerns, he noticed the press' attention and cameras suddenly shift away from him and into the distance. Murmurs and chatter soon erupted. Naturally, Liam's gaze followed suit -- towards a group of heavily-armed soldiers heading their way. They wore white hazmat uniforms and had self-contained breathing apparatus and personal protective equipment. Leading the charge was a well-dressed gentleman in a three-piece suit with a shiny bald head that glistened with heavy perspiration.

He walked like he hadn't shit in weeks.

Liam squinted and lifted a hand to shield his eyes from the bright sunlight. “The hell is that?”

Riley inched closer to Liam and clasped his suit jacket. "What's happening right now? Who are all those people, Liam?"

Liam's forehead creased in puzzlement; he didn't know. Wrapping his arms protectively around Riley, he pulled her even closer but never answered the question. It wasn't until the uniformed men stopped briefly and pointed to Drake, who was standing with his arms crossed at the bottom of the stairs, that it suddenly became clear who they were looking for.

Reporters and onlookers had been so focused on Liam’s return with the American woman, they hadn’t noticed that the brooding Walker had exited the jet last among their posse. Just as everyone had watched replays and snippets of Maxwell’s Instagram video, they were also fully aware the King’s best friend wasn’t exactly returning to Cordonia … healthy … thanks to Maxwell’s Tik Tok sing-along.

A video Drake Walker had no clue existed.

The crowd began to disperse in fear and panic. If men in hazmat suits were needed, they could only assume this went well beyond your casual, run-of-the-mill STD.

Still in no mood to play around, Drake started yelling obscenities and gradually backing away from the hazmat brigade that was closing in on him like a cheetah at a water buffalo hole.

"Mr. Walker," a heavily echoed voice called out, sounding oddly reminiscent of Darth Vader through their breathing contraption, "we need you to come with us."

"The fuck I do." Drake shook his head emphatically while continuing to slide away from them. "I'll beat the shit out of all of ya if you so much as touch me."

"Now, Mr. Walker, don't be stubborn. Try it, and you'll find yourself with a nice little tranquilizer to the ass. Are you going to come with us willingly, or do we have to make this more difficult than it needs to be?"

Drake stood motionless in disbelief. "I don't even know what you guys want or what you think I did," he squawked with a hint of desperation in his tone.

"Tough titties. SEIZE HIM!"

With that order, Drake twisted on the heels of his boots and took off, dodging and weaving away from a bunch of men he had no clue why were even after him.

He had a pretty good hunch, though, who set this chain of events in motion.

The bald guy in a three-piece suit walked up to Liam and flipped his badge open. "Your Majesty?"

Liam nodded, not bothering to acknowledge the man's credentials. "I am. What is the meaning of all this? What the hell are you doing with Drake?"

"Sir, if you will, it has come to our attention that Mr. Walker is a public health risk and highly contagious. We will have to secure him into our custody at once."

Liam scrunched up his face in utter confusion and stared back at the official before responding, “He just has case of crabs, syphilis, herpes, genital warts, gonorrhea, and chlamydia. You’re treating him like he’s about to start some damn worldwide pandemic. Without sexual contact and with heavy doses of medications and creams, Drake should be able to live a normal life like anyone else. So, as the ruler of this country, I am ordering your men to stand down at once.”

“My apologies, King Liam, but my orders come from the World Health Organization and the United Nations. You'll need to take this up with them. Dr. Wolfschitz was clear on the protocol."

"Dr. Wolfschitz?" Liam questioned as realization quickly set in. He twisted around to face Leo, who had this enormous shit-eating grin, the likes he'd never seen on him before. "You? You did this?"

“Walker messed with the wrong bull, little bro.” Leo stuck up his pointer fingers on both sides of his head with a menacing scowl and smugness in his tone. “Now he gets the horns.”

Liam swatted away one of Leo's finger horns. “This is serious, Leo. Not everything is a joke! You're going to fix this, NOW!"

Leo placed a comforting hand on his younger brother’s shoulder, patting it a few times before speaking softly to him. “Look, I know you’re upset right now. You two were very close. But the Drakester is going to a far better place. There’s a big open field and everything where he can run and play all day with others just like him. And all the meaty bones he can eat too … lucky bastard.”

Riley had to bury her face in Liam’s chest to prevent the laugh that threatened to escape, but the bobbing of her shoulders was something she couldn’t hide.

“NOW, Leo!”

Leo tried to hold his ground but was too weak to resist the impatient glare Liam was burning into his soul. After a brief moment, he rolled his eyes and let out a heavy sigh. "Why ya gotta be such a dillhole, Liam? Do you realize you get rattled faster than a two-tit turtle on a tightrope? It's really not your best quality, little brother, but we can work on that." Annoyed, Liam rubbed a hand over his eyes and groaned as his brother continued, "Either way, Father always said, ‘if you can't help your fellow man out, you might as well become one of the Walkers.’ Truer words were never spoken so eloquently.” Leo raised his eyes to the heavens thoughtfully before thinking better of it and lowered them toward the ground. "May you rest in peace, Father," he shouted.

As Leo trotted off to speak with Bald Dude to confess his false claim, Bastien helped guide Liam and Riley through the rambunctious swarm of reporters and spectators. Once they reached the limo, Liam helped Riley inside as Maxwell rounded the vehicle and climbed in on the other side. Pausing for a moment before sliding in, the King placed his hands on top of the open door of the limo and turned one last time to check on his friend. He swallowed hard over the guilt of leaving him behind. As His Majesty watched in horror, Drake took a tranquilizer dart to the back of the thigh and Bastien insisted the area was a security threat, shoving him inside. They would send another car to transport Drake and Leo back to the palace.

Bastien stomped on the gas pedal and sped off, kicking up dirt and smoke as the tires peeled and squealed against the fiery Cordonian asphalt.

When they passed through the airport's security gate, a small motorcade following closely behind, Liam finally lifted his head, his eyes growing wide when he realized what just happened: Bastien's shove had sent Liam flying across the seat to land face-first into a lap — her lap.

He stayed frozen in place, unable to look anywhere but the two slender, bronzed legs peeking out below the hem of his new wife's dress.

Riley lifted an eyebrow, a slight grin dangling from her plush pink lips. "Something you wanna say, Your Majesty?"

Everything that had just happened in the 15 minutes since they landed was long forgotten. Drake who? Liam glanced up with a devilish smirk. "Welcome to Cordonia, Pussycat."

@burnsoslow @dcbbw @ao719 @hopefulmoonobject @texaskitten30 @janezillow @merridithsmiscellany-blog @mskaneko @loveellamae @queenjilian @sirbeepsalot @drakexwillow @caroldxnvxrs @jovialyouthmusic @forthebrokenheartedthings @bebepac @kingliam2019 @lovablegranny @cordoniaqueensworld @amandablink

@liamxs-world @choiceskatie @iaminlovewithtrr @hopelessromanticmonie @charlotteg234 @annekebbphotography

@txemrn @ofpixelsandscribbles @alyssalauren @cordonianroyalty @monsoonblooms12 @mom2000aggie @theroyalheirshadowhunter @princessleac1 @kimmiedoo5 @graceful-leah @iam-the-kind-and-thoughtful @thegreentwin @gkittylove99 @cinnamonspongecake @lifeaskim @neotericthemis @pink-diamond13 @walker7519 @natureblooms24 @yourmajesty09

Liam x MC only: Cordonia-gothqueen

Anything with Drake: @tinkie1973

FRI Series Tags: @sanchita012 @narrytheworld @queenwalton @gabesmommie1130 @cordonianprincess @liamandneca @emkay512 @waywardromancefantasygirl @nomadics-stuff @queendianaofcordonia @zaffrenotes @zilch3 @kat-tia801 @drrookie @sfb123

#fools rush in #liam x riley #the royal romance #liam x mc #trr #drake walker #king liam #bbrandy2002 #liam x oc

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shadowlight17 · 3 years

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Commander Cody Week - Day Three: Valor

Sooo two things. One, this is a day late because I had an eight hour shift yesterday and the muse didn't want to come after that. And two: I literally couldn’t help myself and combined several of the prompts from both Day Three and Day Two.

-how Cody gets his scar- -acting as a protector- in -desperate circumstances- -wielding a lightsaber- that just so happens to belong to the person Cody protects.

TW: Injuries are sustained...maybe not graphic, but if you don't like reading about this, best not to read.

Cody was going to kill Kenobi. Well, if they survived this mess, that is. It was supposed to be a simple infiltration mission, but turned out to be a trap. Wooley and Cody stood shoulder to shoulder, covering the rest of the unit's backs as they frantically tried to find the General. They were in a tunnel system where they’d heard rumors of a new secret weapon. Was there a weapon? Maybe. They’d only gone far enough for their escape route to be cut off before droids began filing out of the woodwork and appearing around every bend. At first it had been manageable, until they got to the extraction point. They were completely surrounded, and the droids weren’t taking prisoners.

Comms spiked as the jamming from the droids wavered. A choppy, though intelligible message connected to Cody’s internal comms.

“Commander Cody! We’ve got an extraction team ready to get you guys the hell out of there!”

“Negative, soldier. The zone is hot. It would be a massacre. They’re waiting for anyone else who comes into this trap!”

The hesitancy in the brothers voice was apparent as he tried to argue with Cody.

“But sir! We’ve got to get you and your men out of there!”

“I know that, trooper. You’ll need to scramble a fighter squad to cover any gunships you send in and it was my understanding that you’re in the middle of a battle!”

Wooley dragged Cody down as an ion cannon charge flew over their heads, crashing into the wall of the tunnel and causing the entire structure to shake. Cody tumbled to a stop, pulling a bead on the super battle droid, and quickly dispatched the largest threat to their group. Wooley groaned as he moved to get up. All of them were feeling a little beat up. They just had to make it back to the other group. A squad of B1 droids rounded the bend where the super battle droid sat smoking. The hunk of metal would slow them down, but not enough to keep them there indefinitely. Cody reached down and hauled Wooley to his feet, the disoriented trooper didn’t object and the two of them rejoined the unit around the bend. Two troopers immediately peeled off the group and started covering them and keeping the droids at bay.

“How close are they?”

Waxer breathed out as soon as they were close enough. The entire tunnel system shuddered again.

“Too close. Someone set charges here. We can collapse the tunnel here and slow down this group of droids. It’ll give us time to regroup with General Kenobi.”

Two troopers immediately moved and started setting the last of their charges. Wooley picked his weight off of Cody and Charger reached over to help Wooley regain his balance.

“Are you alright?”

Wooley nodded tightly and set to checking the charges on his blaster.

“Just took a knock to the head trying to keep the Commander from losing his.”

Cody nodded his thanks and then recalled the two troopers currently firing down at the advancing war machines.

“Alright men, from here on out we aren’t stopping for anything. We haven’t had any communication with General Kenobi since comms went dead, and that usually means he’s in trouble. Move out!”

All the men quickly set up pace while one of them started tracing General Kenobi’s comm unit. The two with charges finished and handed Cody a remote detonator. With an unspoken agreement, the stragglers turned and booked it. Cody waited until he heard the first couple units pass into the tunnel behind them, heralded by a few laser bolts hitting the tunnel walls around them. He hit the button and the tunnel shuddered for a third time, this time the supports in the tunnel behind them began straining under their weight while the entrance collapsed onto the droids. The dust settled behind them as they continued moving. The sounds of blasterfire became louder and they rounded a corner into another group. They were crouched in a defensive manner around some prone figures. A pang went through Cody when he recognized General Kenobi was one of the figures. His men immediately went to bolster the defenses, ignoring the lasers to the best of their abilities. Kenobi had been on the right track, the entrance to the maze was directly in front of them, being blocked by at least a full squad of droids. A brother was crouched next to Kenobi and Cody crouched down next to him, trusting the rest of the unit to keep the droids occupied.

“Is he alright?”

General Kenobi was unconscious and Cody wanted to growl in frustration. Their big gun was out of the fight, leaving the rest of them extremely vulnerable.

“He will be, though he’s not waking up anytime soon. Or fighting. He was caught in a collapsing tunnel not too long ago and he might have internal injuries.”

The cry of a brother in pain pulled the attention of the medic away. Cody nodded his dismissal and motioned Wooley over.

“We’ve got to punch through these droids, do we have anymore poppers?”

Wooly shook his head and Waxer pulled a brother out of the direct line of fire as the medic worked to stabilize and ensure that the trooper would live.

“We used all of the explosives. Our best chance is to have the extraction team ready to pick us up the second we blast through the entrance!”

A blaster bolt hit the wall close to where Waxer’s head was and he crouched low.

“So you’re telling me we’ve got no more artillery? Nothing that’ll thin the droids out?”

The medic snorted and motioned to the unconscious form of the General.

“Well unless you have some magic ability to get our Jedi back on his feet, then no. This would be a lot easier with his lightsaber.”

Waxer and the medic both stood, taking their weapons and swapped out brothers who’s blasters needed their battery packs switched out. Boil, who’d gone with the General crouched down next to Cody as he reloaded his blaster. He wordlessly handed over Kenobi’s lightsaber and rejoined the throng. The wounded trooper groaned slightly, but shifted his weight up so that he could take potshots.

“You got an extra blaster, Commander?”

Some droids were starting to file in from a new direction. It was all or nothing. Cody handed over his blaster, and fingered the button on Kenobi’s lightsaber. All clones had training in Beskad, so it wasn’t unreasonable that Cody use the one tool that had a chance of getting them out. His comms crackled to life again.

“Commander! Are you close to the extraction point? We’ve got a group making a run for your position. You’ve got...be...fzzt...ready!”

Mind made up, Cody stood and strode past the defensive line of brothers, igniting the lightsaber when he got clear. The droids stopped firing as their central processing unit tried to make sense of what they saw. Cody opened an internal line to all of the brothers around him.

“Be ready men, we are getting out of here. Wooley, grab General Kenobi. Charger, you’ve got Hotshot.”

The men all tensed as Cody raised the blade in a salute. Cody took a deep breath, and charged. The lightsaber had been heavier than expected, but the weight balanced well in his gloved hand, and he met no resistance as he slashed through the first three droids. He spun around and kicked high, knocking the head off of one droid. The droids scrambled backwards and started trying to train their blasters on him. Cody didn’t let them and stabbed out with the lightsaber, slashing through the weapons of some droid. Laser fire filled the air around him, and Cody kept moving. The straggler droids would be taken care of. He burst out of the tunnels, his HUD immediately compensating for the light from the sun. The momentary distraction was all it took for the droids to get him off balance. The field between them and the final extraction point was positively surrounded by droids. Cody faltered and a metal fist connected with the side of his helmet, pain exploded from the side of his head as the plastoid shattered. Cody reacted on pure instinct, spinning with the deadly energy blade and slashing through the offending arm. He’d just been punched by a kriffing super battle droid. Blood dripped down the side of Cody’s face and he grimaced. Another fist connected right in his blind spot and he went sprawling. The lightsaber deactivated as he hit the ground roughly. He distantly wondered how it did that, but turned his attention quickly back on the hopeless situation in front of him as he scrambled to his feet, raising the cylinder and igniting the blade once again. If droids could laugh, he was sure they would be. Another metal limb connected with his ribs on his blind side and he slashed blindly, taking the heads of two droids that had gotten too close. The circle of droids all trained their blasters on him and Cody frowned, blood washing into his mouth from the head wound. Where were they?!

He didn’t have to wonder long. Boil and the rest of the unit burst out of the tunnel raining blasterfire on the assembled droids, causing more panic. Cody burst into action, ignoring the protest from his ribs and carved a path to the extraction point just as some well placed shots from bombers and fighters above heralded the arrival of their ride. The troopers poured out of the tunnels, miraculously avoiding being buried as the tunnel finally gave in to the weaknesses it had gained from the earlier explosions.

The droids pressed in as the gunship dropped down to hover doors open. A fizzy noise and Cody barely made out what the pilot was saying through the now damaged comm system in his bucket.

“Get your men out of here, Commander!”

Cody made a quick gesture to the gunship and then placed himself close to the gunship as the men piled in. He swiped at any droids that got to close, growling in an almost feral manner. A pair of hands hauled him into the gunship and he thrashed. He had to keep the men safe, had to get the General to safety, had to.... The hands gently pried the saber from his grip as the gunship soared up into the atmosphere, doors sliding shut.

“Commander! Cody! We all made it. You can stand down.”

The medic was gently easing Cody’s helmet over his head, and Cody tried to slap the hand away, missing since the blood was still making seeing on his left side difficult.

“Tend to the General first!”

Waxer appeared in Cody’s right side periphery. Helmet off and held to the side.

“Commander, General Kenobi is stable, and Sharps here needs to stop the bleeding from your wound.”

Frowning, Cody tugged off his helmet, ignoring the protests of the medic as the broken plastoid scratched at his face.

“Do what you need to, Sharps.”

The medic in question pulled a crate over and directed Cody to sit on it, immediately going to clean the wound with what they had on hand. Cody couldn’t help but fidget, and the medic seemed to get what was going through his head better than Cody himself, because he angled Cody so he could see the Jedi General, laid out on a stretcher. Wooley slumped to the ground next to Cody and passed the General’s lightsaber back up to Cody.

“He’ll be so confused when he can’t find it again.”

Wooley slid his helmet off to display a nasty purpling bruise near his temple. Neatly mirroring Cody’s own new injury.

“We lived to fight another day. And we protected our General.”

Waxer’s quiet words assuaged the tense anxiety that had creeped in so soon post-battle. Cody sighed, once again resisting the urge to put his head in his hands, instead hissing as the medic apologized about something that Cody paid no mind his face went slightly numb and some of the haze left his mind. His men were safe, his general was safe, and they would continue to fight.

OOoof so that was REALLY long. Whoops. Well when the muse sings, you listen to the tune I guess XD @jate-kara @commandercodyweek

Oh and I forgot to mention but in yesterdays spiel, Helix is someone else's OC...I just borrowed them cuz I hadn't thought out my own medic character yet and the 212th doesn't have a canon one....

#unedited and no beta so have mercy!#cody needs a hug #Obi-Wan is a clumsy chaos gremlin #Loyalty means Everything to the Clones #codyweek2021 #Lightsaber + Cody = CHAOS and a bloodbath!

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black-streak · 4 years

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Waiting for the Worms - In the Flesh?

Part 14

Happy New Decade present. Soo this part got split up as well since I got really long winded on some parts and now this is almost 3k and it was getting ridiculous. No warnings that I can think of here?

CLOSED list of people who deserve good things: @northernbluetongue @thethirdwheelfriend @shizukiryuu @theatreandcomicfreak @michellemagic @karategirl119 @moonlightstar64 @my-name-is-michell @mystery-5-5 @zalladane @queen-of-the-trash-planet-tm @miraculousdisapointment @dorkus-minimus @jardimazul @allthebooksandcrannies @g-arya @worlds-tiniest-spook-pastry @persephonescat @mycupisbroken @luciferge @18-fandoms-unite-08 @dawnwave16 @alwaysreblogneverpost @kris-pines04 @mysteriouslyswimmingfan-blo-blog @weird-pale-blonde-person @you-will-never-know-how-i-think @kokotaru @naclychilli @slytherinhquinn @clumsy-owl-4178 @ladybug-182 @darkthunder1589 @evil-elf16 @dast218 @lysslovsanime @emilytopaz @naoryllis @iloontjeboontje @thepeacetea @danielslilangel @finallyaniguana @i-like-fairytail-and-stuff @vixen-uchiha @yuulxd @bleeding-heart-romantic @magic-inthe-stars @st0rmy-w1th1n

~---~

Falling back into Marinette's body felt surprisingly gentle. It offered a sense of nostalgia from back when they use to settle in for switches back before… Well, before.

Lifting his head, Jason realized he was leaned into Marc and surrounded by the entire group all watching him wearily in a semi-circle as though to keep him from running. He had to wonder if that's what she'd been in the middle of when they swapped back. Preparing to run to him the same way he planned to hunt with Damian for her.

"What happened?" His voice came out rough and harsh around the French, having switched to English when speaking to the kid.

"Mari? Oh thank god you're back!" Chloe exasperated, moving closer to his side as Juleka spoke up.

"I thought Kagami said you lost your soulmate, but that was them, wasn't it? They're here then?"

"Did you want to find them? We can help, did you find anything out from where they were?" Marc asked next, keeping some distance.

"Horrible timing if you ask me. Must've freaked out, considering they got launched into a rogue's attack. Honestly, I can't say I blame them for taking off the way they did, or panicking when we essentially cornered them," Kagami went next.

"Ran off? Panicked? You cornered them?" Jason spoke in an almost frantic rush, "What the fuck happened?"

"Fear gas, apparently. Took us all out into lala land. Woke up to a bunch of masked guys laying all over the place. No one died, but it was a bloodbath," Juleka offered a dark smile at that, "You were gone though. Nowhere to be found, so we ran out the back door and started calling for you."

"Only when we found you, you shoved me up into a wall and started speaking in something that definitely wasn't a language you knew," Marc pursed their lips.

"Whoever they are, they stood there in a daze and suddenly tried to bolt away. Marc yanked them back and here we are. Not surprised, we are pretty intimidating," Chloe huffed, tossing her hair.

"She wasn't intimidated."

"Why wouldn't she be? Bunch of overly strong strangers crowding her in speaking in a language she doesn't understand? I'm surprised she didn't fight back more now that I think on it," Kagami gave a thoughtful hum, picking up on the pronoun use immediately and adjusting accordingly.

"She understands French just fine. It's her first language after all. English is her second. And she wasn't running away from you."

"Well then, miss know-it-all, why was she running? In a direction that was decidedly away from us," sarcasm thickly layered Chloe's tone at that.

"There's a kid in her apartment. He was shoving me out the door to go find her. She probably wanted to get back to him to make sure he didn't freak out," Jason explained, not really thinking his words through.

"Woah, what? She's got a kid? How much older than you is she?" Marc piped up.

"No, God no, not her kid, like, like a little brother or something. It's complicated. Point is, she probably felt desperate to get back to him. She wasn't intimidated by you four, hell she probably took down Scarecrow and his goons herself. Fuck, I need to find her." He rattled on at this point.

"Mari, what's going on?" Kagami finally moved closer, grabbing his hand and tilting to look him in the eye.

That's when it truly hit him. They didn't know. He never told them the truth and had assumed he never would. Had assumed his soulmate was gone forever and this particular omission would never come to light. Glancing down to where Tikki peered out from his jacket, he saw the little goddess give a solemn nod and look towards a nearby fire escape to direct him. Looking back at the people gathered around him, people who had laid their trust in him for years. Who stuck by his side all this time, never knowing the truth, looking at him with concerned eyes, he took a deep breath and prepared himself to lose them all.

"Come on, I can't have this conversation here," he gestured them forward and led the way up to the rooftops where he peered out in all directions to be sure they were alone, despite knowing the aftereffects of the miraculi made all of their senses too strong to possibly be caught unaware by a non-holder. Taking a seat on the roof edge, foot propped up against the brick and arms folded, he waited for them to gather round and settle in, either on the ledge beside him or against random pieces left up there, before he began.

"I know she understood you. She wasn't afraid or intimidated or any of those things. Wouldn't make sense for her to be. Honestly, she knows more than I do. I have no idea how she's alive. Considering she died for me three years ago."

He was met with confused looks, some more critical than others, but no one interrupted. Letting out a sigh, he decided he might as well start from the beginning.

"We switched often when we were young, but we learned to act like each other. She didn't want anyone to worry and later on, I couldn't afford for us to not switch flawlessly. No one could tell when or if we switched, though you were all aware I had a soulmate. We both lived dangerous lives. We knew the risks. Knew the consequences. We switched in the middle of her morning class three years ago, a week after her fourteenth birthday. I jolted in her seat and had a panic attack. Only a moment before, I had been held captive by the Joker. I tried to switch back, but she wouldn't let me. She held my body hostage. We'd done that before, you know. Taken an injury for the other and held on until it healed up. Been sick for one another. It wasn't that surprising that she wouldn't let me back in. And the tug calmed down, ao I assumed she was fine and going to heal up and we would switch back. Fucking stupid of me. It took a week before I realized something was wrong."

Juleka stepped in here, quiet but sure, "You're not Marinette. Are you?"

Clenching his fist, he shook his head.

"Marinette died, didn't she? She's dead?" She asked.

"Only she isn't, otherwise you wouldn't have switched today. It makes sense why you're so sure then, she would have no reason to be afraid of us," Kagami interjected before he could respond.

"I thought it was you recognizing me when you loosened your grip, but it was actually her realizing what happened, wasn't it?" Marc offered up.

"That's all good and well, but it begs the question. Why didn't you tell us?" Chloe turned towards him, slight betrayal pushing through.

Jason went quiet as they all turned to wait for his answer. How do you explain that? That the depression and guilt became too much? That you couldn't handle being treated as an outcast and stranger by the people closest to her. That you couldn't look them in the eye and tell them it was your fault that she was gone?

Tikki took this moment to come out.

"I knew. Plagg and all the other kwamis as well. He chose not to tell you. But if he hadn't, we would've stopped him ourselves. Even if he wanted to tell you, we wouldn't have allowed it."

"Why?" Kagami narrowed her eyes, flicking her gaze between her and Plagg, who had just now come out of hiding.

"At the time, we were facing an emotional terrorist. It was bad enough he could've been compromised at any given moment, was better suited to me, and had to deal with Chat all the damn time. It'd be idiotic to allow him to emotional screw all of you up. What a mess that would be," Plagg growled, looking grouchy and put out, despite a slight joy hiding in the glint of his eyes, "She's really alive?"

Tikki nodded, moving over to pull the other god into a nuzzle, "I felt it. It's definitely her."

"And after Hawkmoth was defeated?" Marc this time.

"It'd been around two years by that point. And all of us were releasing a lot of pent up anger. How well would that have gone over without the knowledge that she's alive?" Juleka cut in, saving him from having to explain.

All four of them looked to each other, having a silent group conversation, one he was left out of for once. Seemingly coming to a decision, they turned to him once more.

"So what's your name then?" Chloe demanded.

Eyebrows pinching in a weary, guarded expression, he slowly answered, "Jason. My name is Jason."

"Well then Jason, it's good to finally know who we've gotten so close to all this time," she teased.

"You're," he struggled for the word, "okay with this?"

"She's alive. Has been for who knows how long. We've worked by your side for three years now. We know you even if you weren't who we thought. Honestly, this explains a lot about some of the personality changes recently." Kagami shrugged.

"There's no use in getting upset over it now. It wouldn't help us to move forward," Marc added.

"Sure, we're hurt and annoyed and put off, but we get it. It makes sense and we're not going to hold it against you. And you heard the literal gods. You wouldn't have been able to tell us if you wanted," Chloe continued on.

Juleka nudged his side, pulling him from his shock and awe, "You know where to find her? I think I'd like to meet this new Mari."

"Y-yeah. I know where she is."

"Lead the way then," Kagami nudged him on.

And with a small, shaky smile, taken off guard by their response, he led them back off the roofs and through the streets of Gotham towards her home.

…

Finding the place didn't take long, though he hesitated at the front door to the apartment, a shock of fear and uncertainty pulsing through for what was to come. With a nudge from behind, he knocked thrice and moved away.

After a moment, the door opened two inches and Damian peered up at him, assessing the situation and closing it an inch.

"Who are you?"

"It's Jason," he breathed out.

The kid glared as he glared at the others behind Jason and turned ever so slightly to the side, switching effortlessly to a language he couldn't understand. A gruff response returned it and suddenly the door closed further only to open up.

"That's the same speech pattern from before!" Marc whispered excitedly.

The open floor plan of the kitchen and living room gave an open view of the dark haired figure sitting on the couch facing away from them. At his confused look, Damian spoke up.

"You need to sit down before the two of you speak. I assume you know why. You four will wait here by the door until addressed."

"Excuse me?!" Chloe gave an indignant screech.

The person on the couch tensed either and Damian growled lowly.

"We do this on our terms or you will be removed forcefully. If you're lucky, it'll be by my hand."

"Damian," the figure called, still facing away but letting off an ominous aura, as though they are aware of everything behind them without needing to see.

Damian glared and stayed in the doorway until Kagami gripped Chloe's hand and nodded their agreement. The kid gave a huff and moved so Jason could pass. He would've just past him when he started acting up, but Jason knew better for now. Damian was closer to Marinette than any of them were and any cue from him that they were making him uncomfortable or anxious and she'd shove them out in a heartbeat. Well, the rest of them. He's not sure on himself.

Moving slowly, he moved around the far end of the couch and sat down beside her, calming himself. He could see his old body in the corner of his eye, larger and taller and way further built than it'd been the last time he saw it. A white tuft of hair curled in the front. The eyes seemed to have more green from what he could make out. His body looked very much alive. Although he was sure there were far more scars than three years ago. That was okay, hopefully she could forgive him for the scars added to her own body.

He could tell she was viewing him as well. Seeing her body as it is now, at seventeen years old and put through its own hardships and training. It felt very surreal to be sitting next to their own body, feeling like a stranger to it. No longer knowing how it would feel or react or how it moved. It was even more surreal to be sitting next to each other. Knowing that after all this time and everything they'd been through, this would be their first meeting.

In the next minute, they would greet each other and the bond would solidify. They would either get locked in each other's body or be violently thrown back for what could very well be the last time. They couldn't know for sure which body they would settle more permanently into until they made that step though. Jason could feel the bond strengthening and vibrating between the two like a live wire, but he waited nevertheless. This was under her terms even if he did feel like he deserved an explanation. He knew she wouldn't keep him in the dark for long, so he waited.

With a soft, almost inaudible sigh, she turned towards him at last and he mirrored her movements, meeting eyes for the first time.

Within a fraction of a second, a crackle of electricity bolted between them and they found themselves looking at the body they occupied moments before with a jolt. This time without any blackouts or confusion or yank on either of their parts. Both were glad to be sitting however as the shock wore off. As he looked at the small woman he once occupied the body of, he watched a soft smile grow on the surprisingly delicate features. How had he never noticed how she looked? He had seen that face nearly everyday for three years whether he avoided looking in a mirror or not and yet he never saw that glow to her eyes. Saw the sweetness to her smile, even when miniscule and sad. Never saw the curve of her jawline and the way her hair framed her face perfectly. How could he not notice how beautiful his soulmate was? He was in awe and he was surprised to see it reflected back at him from where he suddenly found himself looking down at her. They had moved closer as though on instinct. Reaching forward, she laced her fingers with his already partially outstretched hand and softened further as a warmth spread from their point of connection. Opening her soft pink lips, she spoke in a soft, melodic tone, one he could never manage in his time with her voice.

"Hello Jason."

"Marinette," he breathed out the name like a prayer.

Tears sprung into her eyes and with a soft laugh that doubled as a sob, she launched herself towards him, wrapping him in a tight hug and pressing her face into his shoulder.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, Jason. You must be so confused and upset and angry with me and I'm so sorry you had to find out like this," she whispered soft enough he was sure even the trained and animalistic hearing in the room wouldn't catch it. Tightening his grip, he curled himself over her, unused to his new size, but taking full advantage to engulf her into his chest in a protective manner.

"It's okay. I. I would've done the same for you," he admitted.

Suddenly a small figure appeared at his side, tugging on his sleeve. Turning to look, Damian stood there, wide eyed and shaking ever so slightly, staring at Marinette.

"What's happening? Why is she crying? What'd you do to her, Jason?" The boy shot him an accusing look. Marinette must have warned him that upon meeting, she would possibly return to her old body and was able to spot the change when it occurred.

"She's just a little overwhelmed kid, relax."

"She's never overwhelmed. Marinette doesn't cry, what did you do to her?" he lashed out once more, expression growing in anger, but also fear.

She chose this moment to pull back, untangling a limb and reaching out for the kid.

"It's okay Dami, he didn't do anything wrong. I never meant to scare you," she soothed, her voice immediately smoothing out and the watery texture to her eyes retracting as if on command. Damian's shoulders came down from their hunched state as he eased forward into her grip, still darting his eyes in Jason's direction as he was drawn towards them.

Jason felt annoyance at her forcing her emotions back into a bottle for the kid but couldn't really say anything without being a hypocrite what with how he avoided the topic like the plague with the others.

Oh shit, the others. Turning slightly, he caught sight of their bug eyed expressions, taking in the scene before them. Tapping on the back of her hand with the fingers still intertwined with hers, he caught her attention and felt as she steeled herself. Lifting her gaze towards them, demeanor calm and assessing, she looked over the group still in the entrance way.

"You can come over now."

#jasonette #maribat #ml x dc #WFTW #part 14 #this is getting longer by the day

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sugarysweetsprites · 4 years

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ALL THIRTY OF MY ENTRIES FOR FAKEATHON 2020 COMPILED BELOW THE CUT

ROUND 1: HOMETOWN MONUMONK - Derived from monument, monk

did you know I like maybe four miles away from a field of 109 identical 7 foot corn statues

FAKEATHON ROUND 2: THE USA ROBINOX - Derived from robin, autumnal equinox

Round one was our hometown, and I did my current city. But my childhood belongs to Connecticut, so I wanted to do a connecticuter. The american robin is the state bird of Connecticut, and as a part of New England it has a colonial history, hence the style. A type of garnet is the state gemstone, hence the species name.

Mostly though, I associate Connecticut with the vibrant autumns. The falls of New England are magic.

FAKEATHON DAY 3: CANADA CURTLE - Derived from curling, turtle

Very simple this one. Canada has a lot of curling events, right? Put the CURLING STONE. On the TURTLE. and you get the CURTLE. Dudes in this other server I’m in really love this one

FAKEATHON DAY 4: MEXICO CASOLURO - Derived from first two letters of the cards it’s based on; el CAtrin, el SOl, la LUna, la ROsa

A very fun one to work on. These are based on those Loteria cards - Specifically, the sun, moon, rose, and the dandy. The 4x4 grid on the inside of its cape is a reference to the 4x4 grid of a loteria play mat. Just threw crap at the wall here and got this funky friend.

FAKEATHON DAY 5: BRAZIL CAPYERA, CAPOBARA - Derived from capoeira, capybara

Not new designs, so much as designs I really needed to give another go. Much happier with these. And frankly, couldn’t think of a concept more wholly Brazilian short of slapping the flag on them.

FAKEATHON DAY 6: FRANCE CHÈVAÇAY - Derived from chèvre (French for goat), Chevalier (French for knight), valençay (French variety of cheese)

F🥐R🎨A🍷N🚬C🥖H

I stole the grease type from someone in that fakemon server it fit this cheesy boy too well

FAKEATHON DAY 7: SPAIN POMEGRIA - Derived from pomegranate, bandurria

Typically tried to avoid the lady-in-dress motif, but felt too justified here. Spain is home to pomegranates, with the blossom being the national flower. The body shape was inspired by the instrument the bandurria, with the base of the body being a halved pomegranate, and her “earrings” being both the tuning pegs and pomegranate seeds.

FAKEATHON DAY 8: UNITED KINGDOM MEMORI - Derived from memento mori, memory

I could’ve uh. Had this idea at a better time huh :^)

FAKEATHON DAY 9: ITALY MEDITIVE - Derived from Mediterranean, olive

Tried going more off-the-wall, but it didn’t quite work. Based on olive branches clearly - olive oil was often used as lamp oil, hence the fire typing. I meant for it to resemble a nuns habit or monastery robes, a la Italy’s heavy catholicism, with the floating olive leaf circlet as a halo. It was… good ideas that didn’t come together perfectly. Probably my least favorite of the lot

FAKEATHON DAY 10: NORDICS MINKJAVIC - Derived from mink, Reykjavik

Look when I think Iceland I always think black metal. This is the second time I’ve done a heavy metal pokemon. The first one was more badass. This one’s instead uh A lot : )

FAKEATHON DAY 11: EGYPT DJEDLY - Derived from Djed, deadly

One of the easiest to draw for… obvious reasons. Based on a canopic jar, sort of like an off-brand yamask or cofagrigus. It’s meant to open up twice; If you take off the lid, you see the fleshy eyeball dude in the lower corner. And if you pull that like a handle, you see what’s inside… and die with that knowledge : )

FAKEATHON DAY 12: ETHIOPIA CAFFIEND - Derived from caffeine, fiend

Obviously hyenas live in Ethiopa. But moreover, Ethiopia is also known as pretty much the birthplace of coffee, and coffee drinking/making is important to the culture. So I thought, why not make a hyena that’s super happy cause it’s always super hyped up on caffeine? Dunno if the electric typing makes much sense, I just thought caffeine = energy = electricity

FAKEATHON DAY 13: MADAGASCAR TENROCK - Derived from tenrec, rock

Tenrecs are endemic, yeah, but this wasn’t just based on a native animal. It was based on the land of Madagascar - specifically, the gorgeous and incredibly sharp structures of Tsingy de Bemaraha National Park. I’ll post a photo above the art, when I saw Madagascar was a theme day I knew I had to base something on that park.

FAKEATHON DAY 14: SAUDI ARABIA MASQAREEN - Derived from masquerade, Qareen

This is based on the Islamic idea of the Qareen. People don’t 100% agree on what Qareens are, but they are consistantly considered to be spiritual doubles - Every person has a Qareen associated with they’re spirit. This is based on one idea, them as dark spirits who attempt to lead their companion-spirit astray. I chose them because even though they’re evil from the start - hence the dark typing - they can become good based on their companion - in this case, trainer’s - actions and whims.

Since they’re counterparts to humans, I thought having them mimic humans would be fitting. It’s body is ALMOST humanoid, it’s many pink extremeties ALMOST resemble clothes. It would be a zoroark like situation, where it could make illusions to resemble human.

FAKEATHON DAY 15: RUSSIA MATEESHKA - Derived from mastryoshka, tea SAMOSHKA - Derived from samovar, matryoshka

Fun fact, I actually used to collect matryoshka dolls. Have a whole box of them in the basement somewhere. So I felt I had to. I have a thing for designs that look a little snobby, Samoshka certainly fits that little niche of mine : D

FAKEATHON DAY 16: INDIA BOVIQUIN - Derived from bovine, palanquin

I like ride pokemon, and I like customizable pokemon. So I made one that’s both! It’s supposed to be based on the water buffalo. The simple colors are because it’s supposed to be customizable - As in, the fabrics hung from it (and maybe the markings painted on it) could be swapped out, so I wanted something simple as a base. Sort of like Furfrou, but the customization doesn’t wear off

FAKEATHON DAY 17: CHINA LONGRUSH - Derived from Long (chinese for dragon), brush, rush

I expect here will be a lot of chinese dragons this round, I wanted to avoid the obvious. But… this is one of the best concepts I’ve ever come up with. The second I had the mental image, I knew that was it

FAKEATHON DAY 18: JAPAN SPIROUS - Derived from spirit, cirrus, pious

This is a myth from both China and Japan, but I associate it with yokai primarily. This is based on Hangonkō, incense that brings forth the spirits of the dead. Hence it’s body obscured by the clouds - It’s literally being summoned by the incense it carries. In retrospect, this could have been an interesting pokeball mimic with different colors.

FAKEATHON DAY 19: INDONESIA WHALEEN - Derived from baleen whale

The Philippines are home to the coral triangle, a stretch of ocean that’s home to a stupidly large amount of coral life. So I initially wanted a coral mon… but it’s known for its reefs. So why not make the whole reef?

FAKEATHON DAY 20: AUSTRALIA OPALINE - Derived from opal, mine

One town in Australia I’ve loved since middle school is Coober Pedy. Known as the opal capital of the world, it’s a desert town that’s so hot, almost all the residents live in houses carved into the ground. Even many businesses and hotels are underground! Coloring was fun on this dude :3

FAKEATHON DAY 21: ANTARCTICA SOUTHAIR - derived from south, hairgrass.

I wanted to do something unexpected. So rather than do that obvious penguin or similar, I went with southern hairgrass, the south most flowering plant. Did it’s closer meant to loosely resemble any wet clothes, but since there are no Inuit populations to Antarctica, only loosely. It’s species, the 1000-to-1 pokemon, Refers to both its chances of survival and the fact of the body is comprised of many many blades of grass

FAKEATHON DAY 22: SOMEWHERE HOT - DEATH VALLEY HELINDRA - Derived from helios, indra

The reason I chose the Indra butterfly is because it's native to death valley. I figure, if death valley gets HELLA sun, why not instead of it living in spite of the harsh sun, living so well because of it?

FAKEATHON DAY 23: SOMEWHERE COLD - GREENLAND STUFFIN - Derived from storm, stun, puffin

I know there are myths that say puffins can bring thunderstorms, so I thought why not turn a puffin into a storm cloud? But uh. It kind of just. Is a puffin isn't it :/

FAKEATHON DAY 24: ANCIENT CIVILIZATIONS KYTHURA - Derived from Antikythera, Urania

One of my favorite remnants of ancient times is the Antikythera Mechanism. It was an ancient Greek computer. With proper gears and mechanics and everything, that was used to plot the locations of the planets and the stars in stunning detail. This first go around turned out… not that great, I’ll be honest. But I wanna do something with the Antikythera Mechanism. It shouldn’t take TOO much tweaking to make this something I love

FAKEATHON DAY 25: FUTURE WORLDS COCOWATT - Derived from coconut, watt

One of my favorite images of the future is, instead of all streets having street lights, some having bioluminescent trees! I wanted to make something to that effect. Even though we have Exeggutor I chose palm trees cause they already have a street-lamp-like shape. Finally got to bust out my super neon pencils :3

FAKEATHON DAY 26: RANDOM COUNTRY - IRELAND AMANEELIE - Derived from amanita, unseelie

I have irish blood, so I wanted to do an irish mon. I took the idea of the fairie ring in a weird direction - when it extends its arms and the little purple "hands" touch, anything in the loop of its arm - the fairie's ring - will become hideously poisoned. Visually referenced the deathcap. Just like imagining these things in a secluded dense forest, floating along like swimming jellyfish

FAKEATHON DAY 27: THE OLYMPICS SYNCRA - Derived from synchronized, tetra

This is similar to wishiwashi, in that it's a schooling mon. But instead of it having a schooling form, it's ALWAYS in a school of five fish, constantly swimming in unison. Clearly based on synchronized swimming, I wanted the tails to be super long, so they'd flow all elegantly when they maneuver around. Kinda... power rangers in execution, innit

FAKEATHON DAY 28: THE OCEAN EXPLORB - Derived from explore, orb

The idea to turn the bathysphere into a pufferfish-like dude just came together really clearly in my head. I imagine their attack would be terrible but their defence would be amazing - basically, they aren't out to fight, they just wanna explore the oceans :3

FAKEATHON DAY 29: THE MOON MOOMOON - Derived from moomoo, moon

its the cow that jumped over the moon

FAKEATHON DAY 30: LEGENDARY CORRA - Derived from core, cor (latin for heart), terra

I figured, we’ve done every part of the earth this challenge… except the interior. So for the legendary representing the world, I based mine on the core of the earth. The body itself is meant to resemble the phylotypic stage of an embryo - the stage of development where most species are virtually identical. It cannot leave its lava bubble. At the center of its body is a heart glowing with all the colors of magma.

The FIRST person to make a legend of korra joke is getting slapped

#fakemon #fakeathon #fakeathon2020 #pokemon #My Art #Non Spritework

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statusquoergo · 5 years

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Part I

Apparently Alex managed to sway Katrina with his last pitch, because here she is showing up in Faye’s office late at night to inform her that “if Harvey testifies tomorrow, so will [she].” Uh, okay.

Except that Katrina’s not threatening to testify to the truth or anything; she plans to accuse Faye of “[asking her] to use [her] friendship with the other side, and when [she] refused, [Faye] got rid of [her].” Faye points out that this is a lie, and Katrina counters that it doesn’t matter because “it’s also the third time [she’ll] be accused of wrongful termination, only this time, it’s a crime,” and I’m confused, is she talking about the three strikes law? Because that refers to persistent violent offenders, not civil disputes; Faye could be accused of wrongfully terminating a hundred employees, that doesn’t necessarily make it illegal. Or is she saying that this time she’s accusing Faye of committing a crime that led to the wrongful termination? I guess this is that perjury thing Louis was warning Gretchen about, and wow, of all the people I expected to try to pull it off, Katrina was way down there on the list.

Not surprisingly, Faye follows Harvey through the lobby to accuse him of putting Katrina up to threatening her, which Harvey denies, and that’s technically true, but no matter, because Faye called for a one-day continuance for Harvey to get Katrina off the witness list (even though that’s not appropriate cause for a continuance to be granted, not to mention the fact that if they didn’t keep rushing everything, they might actually have time to deal with this sort of shit in the normal course of business the way they’re supposed to). Harvey refuses unless she puts their “entire agreement into writing” so she can’t “move the goalposts another fucking inch,” and this is so stupid that it has to be on purpose but I still can’t figure out what the hell is going on.

The next day, Faye is surprised to find all the major players waiting in the conference room to bear witness to her signing this agreement with Harvey, making a big show of their united front, so I’m guessing that whatever their big plan is…this is it. Gretchen gives Faye the document for review, and right on cue, Mike and Samantha burst onto the scene to accuse Harvey of tampering with Mike’s witness (Katrina), prompting Faye to accuse him of “[playing] dirty in [her] name”; Harvey defends that he stopped her from testifying, just as Faye asked, and Mike demands to know if that’s true, and Faye tells him not to “twist this,” and like, is their plan just to create confusion? Because it’s working. It’s dumb, but it’s working. Harvey and Mike yell at each other until Harvey shoves Mike, Samantha yells at Harvey and pretends to punch him (she does “punch” him, it just looks super fake), Gretchen putters around furtively in the background, and oh my god are they really doing what I think they’re doing?

With a heavy sigh, Faye signs the document, informing them all that “[she] can’t wait to put [them] all behind [her],” thereby prompting Louis to smugly tell her to “get the hell out right now” because yes they did do exactly what I was hoping they hadn’t: They tricked her into signing the document Gretchen swapped for the agreement, “an order for Harvey to witness tamper by any means necessary” that, in combination with the facts that “Katrina came to see [her] last night and there’s a record of it in the lobby downstairs, and after she did, [Faye] went to see Harvey, and there’s a record of that too,” makes her look guilty as fuck. And sure, “it may be bullshit, but to a jury, it’s gonna look like a hot fudge sundae.” (What the fuck does that mean?) Faye proceeds to go off the deep end a little, shouting that she’ll never back down and that Harvey is a blight, and a real fight almost starts brewing until Harvey kicks them all out so he can “give [Faye] the thing [she’s] wanted since the moment [she] got here, but not the way [she] wanted it,” and I get that he needs to get the last word in and everything, but this whole “patronizing asshole” routine is really off-putting.

The motley crew bustles off to a different conference room to fret that even Harvey’s best efforts might not be enough to get rid of Faye, but lucky them, Harvey makes a hero’s return about five seconds later to announce that Faye’s “packing her shit as [they] speak.” Louis immediately hires Samantha back, seconded by Alex if for no other reason than “finally giving Harvey what he’s always had coming” when she punched him in the face, and Louis needs to know what Harvey did to convince Faye to leave, but Harvey’s not telling yet. Or ever. I bet it was something super scandalous. Anyway Donna makes a speech about how much they love each other and therefore they should go out for drinks even though it’s like, ten in the morning, and that’s something you can do when you’re your own boss, so off they go.

This episode is basically two episodes scotch-taped together, so I want to pause here at the end of the first installment to talk for a minute about what just happened.

For nine episodes, the looming threat over this firm, and all these characters’ livelihoods, has been Faye Richardson’s attempts to put their affairs in order, to stop their habit of “crossing lines” (re: committing disbarrable offenses) to win their cases. It’s not an unreasonable request; in fact, they could easily get rid of her at any time by bringing the firm up to code, so to speak, but these rebels with a cause can’t stand being told what to do, so no one’s going to be entertaining that option. Okay, fine; we’re not going to take the easy way out, so instead the entire season is twisted into knots to find new and increasingly ludicrous excuses for them to do battle, all the while trying to weave in all the backstory that could’ve been built up at any previous time but probably wasn’t even conceived of until the moment it was thrown into this melting pot.

This disjointed narrative leads to a serious problem in trying to craft a satisfying resolution to this story: There’s nowhere to go but sideways. Faye established right at the start of her tenure that she would have no qualms about demoting or firing anyone who she deemed to be acting inappropriately, so the question there has never been whether someone would be fired (Chekhov’s gun and all that) but rather who, and, to a lesser extent, why. Louis was demoted but remained at the firm in essentially the same capacity, Samantha was fired but kept right on working with all her former coworkers, Katrina was fired immediately before the finale and therefore only kept in limbo for half an episode; none of these actions have any weight because they don’t have any serious consequences, not to mention it’s so obvious that everything will return to normal when all is finally said and done. There is no sense of mounting tension; however they planned to get rid of Faye, it couldn’t result in a hero’s reward after a long and hard-fought battle because every time they’ve gone up against her, it’s just been another parallel version of them trying to get away with business as usual under slightly different circumstances. The entire game has been played on normal mode and we’ve barely even bothered to leave the training area; the thing that finally does her in isn’t even a particularly clever ploy or masterful legal maneuver, merely that the sleight of hand happened to work this time around.

Except that it shouldn’t have worked, because it makes no sense. And as much as that ought to be the slogan anytime Suits tries to pull any sort of legal shenanigans, if they’re ever going to pretend to know what they’re doing, shouldn’t it be now? I guess they’ve made it this far, they might as well go all the way.

So Faye signs one copy of a document which makes her appear to have directed Harvey to tamper with a witness; this document is not notarized, the only witnesses to its signing stand to benefit directly from the signatory’s expulsion from the firm, no one in their right mind, much less a veteran officer of the court, would ever put something like that in writing, and as I said, this is the only copy, and there’s literally nothing stopping her from destroying it. Their supporting evidence is a lobby record of Katrina’s visit to see Faye the previous night; while it’s certainly possible that this building requires listing a point of contact before admission, the fact that Faye was surprised by Katrina’s appearance (“Katrina, you’re not permitted to be here”) makes that unlikely, meaning Katrina was almost certainly documented as a visitor to the firm, meaning that, as far as anyone not bearing witness to these events knows, she could have met with anyone there for any reason. The next piece of evidence, that Faye immediately went to see Harvey after Katrina left, is even more ludicrous, if possible; she followed him to the lobby, so there would be no record of their meeting unless they’re talking about a video recording, but even so, it’s perfectly reasonable to think that two coworkers might be discussing any number of things in the building where they work, so that’s hardly conclusive. At best, this all boils down to a case of she-said, they-said, built on a teetering mountain of conjecture, hearsay, perjury, and fabricated evidence that would force any self-respecting judge to acquit, putting them all right back where they started, but with a lot less patience for each other’s bullshit.

Except that none of this matters anyway, because, spoiler alert, Harvey only gets Faye to leave by promising to leave as well, framing it as some big sacrifice even though this is how he planned to end things all along. So Donna can make her speech about them all risking everything for each other to get Faye out, and they can all go out together to celebrate a job well done, but when it comes right down to it, at the end of the day, none of their parlor tricks really worked, and the war was only won when Harvey made the decision to throw himself down upon his sword for the rest of them. And even then, he didn’t sustain much of a wound, having already lined up a position at Mike’s firm where I doubt he’s going to stay a junior partner for very long.

I’m just saying that after all the buildup, after all the manufactured tension…this is kind of a letdown. Or, well, it would be, but I said I was keeping my expectations low and this is exactly why.

Onto the second half!

Part III

#suits usa #s09e10 #season 9 #analysis

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southsidewrites · 6 years

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Boyfriendzoned (Sweet Pea x Reader)

Summary: When Jughead transfers to Southside High, the two of you immediately bond in your shared English class. Little do you know that your long-time best friend Sweet Pea isn’t okay with that.

Word Count: 2207

Requested: by anon “can I request sweet pea imagine where you have been his bestfriend since you were kids and when Jughead moves to south side high you befriend him and sweets gets jealous and possessive finally telling you that he doesn’t want to lose you to jug?”

A/N: Please excuse how much my nerdiness shows in this one. Seeing as I’m not actually employed with my English Teaching degree, I suppose I can put it to good use here. As always, let me know what you think!

Requests are open! || Masterlist

~~~~~

"Shut up, Pea," you laughed, shoving him. "It's not my fault that I didn't realize he was into me."

Sweet Pea gave you a skeptical look. "Oh, really? Y/N, he asked you to tutor him in Physics—you suck at Physics."

You rolled your eyes. "I do not suck at Physics. I'm just not awesome at it. Even a B student tutoring you is better than nothing if you're failing."

"Yeah, but he wasn't failing. Admit it, Y/N, you're just oblivious to social cues."

You rolled your eyes and started eating lunch. It wasn't your fault that you never seemed to know when guys were flirting with you. In your defense, it didn't happen often at all—spending a lot of time with Sweet Pea and Fangs usually scared off all but the bravest guys.

"Real talk, Y/N, are you planning on staying single forever?" Fangs joked, trying not to laugh.

You groaned, wanting to drop your head onto the table in exasperation. "My god, you guys are brutal. I'm focused on school right now, okay?"

"You've been saying that as long as I've known you," Sweet Pea replied, grinning. "Which was like kindergarten."

"Why do I even hang out with you guys? Aren't friends supposed to be supportive?"

"This is called tough love, Y/N," Fangs said with a smirk. "My mom swears by it."

I looked up at him, your smirk mirroring his own. "What? Does she want your single ass to get a date too?"

Fangs gripped his chest like he'd been stabbed, dramatically throwing his head back. "Right in the heart."

Shaking your head, you gave Sweet Pea an amused look. "At least I know that I won't die alone, right, Pea?"

He winked. "Thirty-five, babe."

"Seriously, you two have a marriage pact?"

"Abso-fucking-lutely," you replied, holding up your fist.

Sweet Pea instinctively bumped his fist into yours. "It's our generation's version of a will, Fogarty. Gotta make sure you don't die old and alone."

Fangs cocked an eyebrow, shaking his head. He may have been Sweet Pea's best guy friend, but even he didn't quite comprehend the depth of the relationship between the two of you. Growing up next door to each other, you already knew everything. You never had to talk about your painful pasts, because you already knew then. You had been a part of each other's stories since the moment they'd been written.

The bell ringed, and the three of you groaned in unison.

"Back to work," you groaned. "I'm so not in the mood for English today."

"You're always in the mood for English," Sweet Pea replied, walking with you to class. "Why not now?"

"We're reading Thoreau, and I fucking hate Thoreau."

Sweet Pea gave you a skeptical look. "Can't say I've ever read it."

"You're in the same class a different hour, Pea."

"Oh, yeah...definitely haven't read it."

You bit back a laugh, trying not to roll your eyes. "Literally you'd never pass this class without me."

"And that's why I love you, Y/N," he laughed. "See you after school?"

"Always." You turned to walk into your classroom but were shocked to see a new kid in your seat. He was thin, with dark hair and a beanie that looked like a crown. You walked over and placed your hand on the desk. "You're in my seat."

He looked up at you with a shock. "Oh, shit, I--"

"Relax, dude." You dropped your stuff on the floor and sat down in the desk next to him. "I'm Y/N."

"Jughead," he replied.

Your eyebrows rose. This had to be Jughead Jones, aka F.P. Jr. "Nice to meet you, Jughead."

His shoulders slumped, and he looked shockingly defeated. "Man, not even a Serpent and you know who I am."

"Everyone on the Southside does," you replied apologetically. You smiled softly and reached out to squeeze his hand briefly. "Don't worry—I won't hold it against you."

He laughed. "Thanks."

"So, do you happen to have any strong feelings about Thoreau?"

~~~~~

Over the course of the next week, you spent more and more time with Jughead. While you initially bonded over your shared hatred of Thoreau's pretentiousness, you quickly realized that you had a lot more in common than just literary preferences.

"Of course you like Poe," you teased, doodling pictures of little birds in Jughead's notebook. "He's all dark and menacing. Exactly the kind of drama you live for. Hell, if Poe was writing today, I'd bet he'd go for the same melodrama as you."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, hate on me for liking the literary equivalent of an aggressively punk teen." Jughead rolled his eyes. "Better than liking Dickens. That guy was paid by the word, you know."

"First, you are an aggressively punk teen. I mean, look at you, dude. You practically live for your aesthetic." You laughed. "Second, every one of those words was totally worth it. Dickens is a master" You snapped his notebook shut. "Change of topic: I take it we're going to be partners for the unit project?"

"Depends, can we do it on Poe?" He smirked, his eyes brightening.

"It's about transcendentalism, Jug." You gave him a puzzled look. "Since when is Poe a transcendentalist?"

"Well, I'm sure as hell not doing it on Thoreau," he replied. "That would be too obvious, not to mention, way too painful."

"Tolstoy?"

He shrugged. "Sure. Want to work on it tonight?"

"I'm down." You double-checked the calendar in your phone to make sure you weren't working. "Your place or mine?"

"How about yours," he drawled. "Mine's not exactly homework-friendly."

"Works for me."

~~~~~

"So, Y/N, coming to the Wyrm tonight?" Sweet Pea asked, joining you as you left school for the day. He had pulled a cigarette out of his pocket and was twirling it absentmindedly as you walked. You smiled—the habit was always a sure-fire sign that he was in a good mood.

"Sorry, Pea, can't tonight," you replied, shrugging apologetically. "I've got a project to work on."

"Oh." For a moment, he was silent as you walked into the parking lot together. You didn't notice as he tucked the cigarette back in his pocket. "Need a ride home?"

"Nah, I'm good." You smiled at gestured at Jughead. He was standing by his bike talking to Toni. When he saw you, he smiled back.

"Jones?" Sweet Pea asked, his voice icy.

"Yeah." Your eyebrows rose as you looked at him. "What? We're in English together, and the unit final is a group project."

Sweet Pea shoved his hands in his pockets and shook his head. "Nothing. Will you be at the Quarry tomorrow?"

"Of course I will, Pea." You grabbed him by the shoulders and pulled him in for a hug. You were one of the few people who could get away with so much physical affection in public. "Love ya, skyscraper."

"Love ya too, ankle-biter."

Laughing, you turned to walk towards Jughead. "See you later, Pea."

~~~~~

"No way," you were laughing so hard you almost cried as Jughead told his story. In addition to being a great writer, the guy could make anything funny. "I swear, the Northside is fucking nuts."

Jughead shook his head, still laughing softly. "A little."

After working on the project for an absurd amount of hours, the two of you moved to Pop's for a midnight snack. By this point in the night, you were both done eating, but neither of you really wanted to leave. You were having too much fun just hanging out, getting to know each other, and swapping funny stories.

Behind Jughead, the bell on the door jingled, and you looked up to see Sweet Pea, Toni, and Fangs walk in.

"Guys!" You called. "Over here!"

Grinning, Fangs led the way, leaping into the booth next to you. "Y/N, glad to see you finally have a social life outside of Sweet Pea." He shouldered you playfully.

Rolling your eyes, you punched his arm. "Shut the fuck up, Fogarty."

Toni sat down next to Jughead, and Sweet Pea pulled up a chair at the end of the table. Unlike his friends, he seemed unusually grumpy for a Friday night.

"So, Y/N, Jug, how'd the project go?" Toni asked, stealing one of the fries left in the basket between us.

"Awesome." You grinned. "We're definitely going to get an A."

"You know it." Jughead held his fist up, and you bumped it. "That teacher won't know what hit her."

Sweet Pea's jaw tightened.

"How was the Wyrm?" you asked.

"Fine." Toni shrugged. "Even though Pea seems to have some sort of massive stick up his ass tonight." She nudged him, laughing.

Sweet Pea forced a smile, but it looked a whole lot more like a grimace. "I think I'm just tired."

You gave your friend a concerned look. He had been off after school, too. If you were alone, you would have asked why, but you knew that he'd hate you for doing it in front of everyone.

Over the next hour or so, everyone trickled out of the diner except you and Sweet Pea. Staying at Pop's that late was a bit of a tradition for the two of you. As soon as you were old enough, you used to ride your bikes to the diner late at night. You both had home lives that you'd rather escape sometimes.

Within minutes of everyone leaving, you jumped on your chance to talk to him alone. "So, skyscraper," you asked. "Care to tell me what's up tonight?"

"Not really." He leaned back in his seat and ran a hand through his hair. "It's not a big deal, Y/N."

You didn't buy it. "Fine. Don't tell me. Just know that now I totally think it's about me."

"Wait, wha—no." He leaned forward on the table to look at you. "It's not you."

"Then what is it, Sweet Pea?" You were starting to get really worried.

"It's just--" He cut off, looking around the diner like he wanted to make sure no one would overhear your conversation. His brown eyes were clouded with worry, and he looked like he would rather jump out the window than finish the conversation.

"Just what?" You were about ready to punch him. "Pea, we've been friends forever. What could possibly be going on that you can't tell me?" Your voice had risen to a somewhat desperate pitch.

He took a deep breath, clenching his hands into fists on the surface of the table. "I don't like you hanging out with Jones so much."

"What?"

"I know, I know—I'm an asshole, and I have no right to dictate who you spend your time with. I should have said something sooner, should have made a move before it was too late, should have told you this a long time ago, but no, I put myself in the goddamn friendzone for literal years--"

"Wait, what?" You cut him off, not sure you were hearing him clearly. Was Sweet Pea, your best friend for as long as you could remember, admitting feelings for you? "What are you saying, Pea?"

"I really like you, Y/N." His shoulders slumped like the wind had just been knocked out of him. "And I've really liked you for a long-ass time. I've never said it, though, because I didn't want to ruin our friendship. It's too fucking late now, though."

Your eyes were wide, and you had no idea what to say. Instead, you let your body take over. Throwing caution to the wind, you nearly dove across the table to press your lips into his. Sweet Pea reacted immediately, cupping your face and pulling you closer to him. His lips gently parted your own, deepening the kiss.

You could feel the hard table pressing into your hips, and it took all the self-control you had not to just leap over into his lap. Breathing deeply, you pulled back.

"Y/N, I—what?"

"I don't even know where to start, Pea." Your breath was heavy and your cheeks flushed. "First of all, Jughead has a girlfriend who is certainly not me. Second, I've liked you forever. I just--" You cut off. "You and Fangs are always giving me so much crap about being single, and I guess I just assumed I was more like one of the guys than a potential girlfriend."

"Wow, I have fucked up." He let out a harsh laugh. "I'm such a moron, Y/N. I always thought I never stood a chance with a girl as awesome as you." His voice softened. "I thought I'd just be lucky to be your friend, maybe marry you when we're thirty-five."

You laughed harder, reaching across the table to take his hand in yours. "Well, I'm definitely not in the market for a husband right now, but I wouldn't mind having a boyfriend." You smiled, meeting his warm gaze with your own. "What do you think?'

"I think I would be thrilled to be your boyfriend."

Smiling, you leaned back over the table and kissed him again, slowly and more deliberately. "Well then, consider yourself boyfriendzoned."

"Boyfriendzoned?"

"Hey, you're the one who agreed to date me." You grinned.

He rolled his eyes. "Wouldn't have it any other way."

~~~~~

Thanks for reading! Check out my Masterlist for more!

Requests are open!

#sweet pea #sweet pea x reader #sweet pea reader insert #sweet pea imagine #sweet pea request #sweet pea fic #sweet pea story #riverdale #riverdale request #riverdale imagine #reader inset #riverdale reader insert #jordan connor #sweet pea fluff #1000 notes

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buckyscrystalqueen · 6 years

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Winter Wolf: Part 2

Pairings: Eventual Bucky x Reader, Eventual Natasha x Reader

Warnings: Swearing, torture, brainwashing, murder.

Word Count: 2,821

Box Filled: Gender Swap

A/N: This series was written for @marvelfluffbingo and it took on a life of its own. Enjoy!

Part 1

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“I’d like to enlist in the United States Army.” You said authoritatively as you stood at the front desk of the recruitment tent at the World’s fair. The man looked up at you instantly and laughed.

“You?” He asked, unbelievingly. “You’re a woman.”

“And?”

“What are you like… five foot four?” You rolled your eyes and forced a fake smile as you looked at the other soldier.

“Five foot six, actually. Hundred and twenty-two pounds if you’re really curious.” The men continued to laugh as the first one shook his head.

“I don’t think so, lady.” He said as he looked back down at his papers. Anger got the better of you and you let your claws out and slammed them down in front of him through his papers and into the desk.

“I want- to join- the Army.” You repeated as you glared at him. “So fill out the fucking papers.”

“Miss…” A new man said as you retracted your claws. You straightened and looked up at a gentleman who called you forward with a wag of his finger. “You can come with me.” You nodded your head and stormed around the table with a huff. He lead you down a make shift hall and into a room with the letters “C.O.S.” on the door.

“My name is Major William Stryker.” He said as he pulled a chair away from his desk and gestured for you to sit down. “I am the covert operations specialist of the US Army.”

“(Y/N) (Y/L/N).” You said as you sat down in the chair as he walked around to his seat. He gave you a tight lipped smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes and folded his hands on the wood in front of you.

“My team and I specialize in working with mutants in the army. Now, Ms. (Y/L/N), before we begin I need to ask you a few questions about your mutation so we can place you with the correct team once we finish the physical.” You nodded in understanding and with a single returning nod, he grabbed a file from one of his drawers. “Can I get you some water or anything before we begin?”

“No, thank you.” You said as you crossed your legs and leaned back in the chair. He flipped open the folder and pulled a pen from the pocket of his uniform shirt.

“Now, Ms. (Y/L/N), when did you find out about your mutation?” You sat up a little straighter and folded your hands in your lap.

“1852. I was ten years old.” His eyes darted up to you and you simply nodded.

“OK.” He said as he wrote your age down. “And what does your mutation consist of exactly?”

“Strength, speed, and agility well above the average human. Enhanced senses and self healing. I can’t get sick, I assume I’m immortal because I’ve been shot before and my body just rejected the bullets. I easily adapt to any weather conditions and I can literally run for days straight and not get tired. Trust me, I tried it. Oh, and my claws, obviously. I’m also an excellent marksmen and very good at hand to hand combat, both self taught.” He stared at you blankly and you shrugged your shoulder. “That’s all.”

“Well then.” He said as he set his pen down without writing anything down. “I think I know the perfect place to put you. You alright with being right on the front line?” You nodded as what Steve said repeated itself in your head.

“Might as well put someone who can’t die in front of the people who can, right?” He finally gave you an authentic smile as he set the file aside and stood up.

“Welcome to the Army, Ms. (Y/L/N). Let’s get you ready for your physical.”

——

“Is this normal?” You asked as you were brought to what you assumed was a heavily guarded Army base in upstate New York.

“We have to treat mutants separately from regular soldiers… just in case. There was an incident last year where someone who just had super strength didn’t know he was also capable of spitting fire when put under extreme stress…”

“Oh, my.” You gasped as they stopped in front of the building.

“So now we have precautionary measures set in place. After you.” You nodded and got out of the back of the car in front of Major Stryker. You hesitated for only a moment so he could walk in front of you and followed him toward the door. The moment you stepped inside the poorly light building, you heard a faint, unheard to normal ears, blood curdling scream from the bowels of the building.

“Wait…” You said as you took a step back a second too late. The main door slammed shut and you slipped into panic mode.

“Stop her.” Stryker said evenly as your claws came out and you slipped into fight mode. You easily killed half dozen men before your head began to get really fuzzy.

“No, please.” You said as tears welled in your blurry eyes. “Please…”

“Take her to the back.” You heard Stryker say as your knees gave out and brought you to the ground. “She’ll be perfect for the experiment.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“If she survives this, she’ll be the perfect face for HYDRA.” A German voice said as you came to. You let out a muffled groan around whatever was in your mouth and opened your eyes slowly.

“She’s awake.” You heard Stryker say. “Let’s get started.” Tears welled in your eyes and you tried to shake your head when you heard machines rumble to life. You began to panic as you felt your body lowered into an ice cold bath. Through the water, you watched as mechanical arms began to move toward you and you screamed as tears began to pour from your eyes.

“Please!” You begged despite the fact that no one could hear you as you tried unsuccessfully to move away from what you now realized was needles pointed at your face. Within seconds, they drilled into your face and body straight down to your bones.

Heat unlike anything you had every felt before spread from the needles and didn’t fade in time. Your eyes rolled back into your head and you thought your heart was going to beat out of your chest from the excruciating agony. Your long life flashed before your eyes as you screamed bloody murder and prayed to a God you didn’t believe in for the pain to end. You thrashed in the tight restraints as the fire like feeling spread through every inch of your body and didn’t let up until it finally felt like your heart exploded and the pain finally disappeared.

It only took your heart a few seconds before it lurched in your chest and you easily shot out of the water you had been submerged in. Your claws flew out and you unfortunately hesitated at the glimpse of metal claws where bone should be. You felt a strong burst of high voltage electricity strike you square in the back and you collapsed on the ground and convulsed violently.

“She’s perfect.” Someone said as your sobbing being was picked up off the ground and strapped into a chair. “Get her to phase two. See how fast she can regenerate limbs.”

——

“Yesh', soldat.” A man said as he dropped a sparse tray of food on your jail cell floor. You curled into yourself even more on the dirty, dry blood covered, paper thin mattress on the floor and waited for him to leave. Like he did every day, the man kicked the tray toward you and locked you in your cell once more. Once the door closed, you followed the instructions and ate the pathetic excuse for a meal they provided.

Up until the moment you signed up for the bullshit “Army project”, you had never wanted to actually die before. Sure, you had lived a long life and had done some things in the two wars that you were not entirely proud of… but the months that you had spent at the twisted hands of HYDRA made you beg for death every moment of every day.

They had taken everything from you; your dignity, your freedom, your sanity… even your left arm because they wanted to see if it would regrow. The supposed upside was, after injecting some kind of blue serum into you to see if that would alter not just enhance your mutation, they replaced your stump a few weeks before with a crudely added metal arm that had your claws put in it as well. And the only thing you had to distract yourself from the pain was a never ending, alternating introduction to speaking Russian, Spanish, or German parts one through what felt like a million and seven on a loop in your cell.

When you weren’t locked in your cell, you were being tortured in every way imaginable or beaten and told to fight back without your claws. The moment they ripped through your knuckles, you’d get hauled back into the chair for more electrocution while they shouted miscellaneous words at you. You realized quickly that electrocution was their favorite form and it took you less than a month to realize that you were slowly but surely being brainwashed. You could feel the parts of your brain that made you you slipping away faster and faster with every shock and group of trigger words, only to be replaced with a vast nothingness that became the bane of your existence. You became HYDRA’s puppet in a matter of months and no matter how physically strong you were, there wasn’t a damn thing you could do to stop it until you forgot the urge to fight all together.

“Na nogakh, soldat!” A new man shouted as he ripped open your cell door. You wiped off your face as you followed his command, got to your feet, and followed him down a few halls into the large room in the center of the base.

“Stoy zdes’.” He snapped as he pointed to a small platform he wanted you to stand on. With the smallest of nods, you stepped up on to it and stood perfectly, mindlessly still to wait for further instructions. You barely heard ‘move her’ and ‘cryo freeze’ muttered by a man across the room before a large cylinder lowered around you. You gasped at the suddenness and instinctively stuck your metal hand out as the tube locked and filled with a below freezing liquid.

“Please.” You begged on deaf ears once again as a sleepiness you hadn’t felt in weeks washed over you.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

November, 1963

You woke up slowly as two people grabbed your upper arms and pulled you down off the platform of the cryo sleep chamber you ‘slept’ in. They didn’t wait for you to gain the ability to walk yourself before they were dragging you across a giant room. You blinked a few times to wake up a bit more and your (Y/E/C) eyes focused on a metal chair.

“No… no!” You said knowing that chair meant excruciating pain; pain you didn’t want. Your claws instantly came out and you fought to stab the men carrying you. Your claws hit the metal armor the two men had on in preparation for your assault. You screamed and your entire body tensed as they dropped you in the chair. The moment they did; however, you instinctively sat up, gripped the arm rests, and didn’t even try to get up.

You continued to scream a little more as two, black, metal electrodes were lowered toward your temples. You only stopped screaming to accept the thick mouth guard as a man began to lightly strap you down so you didn’t convulse out of the chair. Tears filled your eyes for a second before they flipped the switch and let a lethal level of electricity flood through your body.

“желание.” (Longing)

Your whole body lurched violently as someone came over to remove your mouth guard so you wouldn’t accidentally inhale it. Your head throbbed and every muscle in your body twitched as you struggled to catch your breath.

“ржавый” (Rusted)

‘I’m coming for you.’ A growled voice said in the back of your head as the monster they were turning you into began to slowly claw it’s way from your subconscious. You growled and shook your head harshly in a vain attempt to make her go away.

“семнадцать” (Seventeen)

As the monster taunted you from the deep recesses of your mind, you tried to focus on your breathing and you had a brief thought that if you were to stop breathing all together, maybe you could stop her from taking over again.

‘Think again, bitch.’ She growled as she made you take a strangled breath.

“рассвет” (Daybreak)

‘Please.’ You begged of her as the harsh aftershocks rattled your metal bones. There was a deep laugh that seemed to echo in your skull.

“печь” (Furnace)

‘It’s my turn.’ The demon growled as she began to finally leave your subconscious and take over your consciousness.

“Девять” (Nine)

You said one final please before the pain disappeared; before the sane part of you completely dissolved and the creature slipped into your being as if she were getting dressed out of a shower.

“Доброкачественная” (Benign)

Your head twitched once to the side and your claws finally retracted. You stretched out your fingers as your mind began to wipe itself to a blank slate once more. You took a deep, easy breath and you accepted your fate once more.

“Возвращение домой” (Homecoming)

A low growl rolled from your chest as a tiny aftershock lurched in your flesh arm, making your claws come out for only a moment as your body tried to reject the beast that had taken residence in your being.

“один” (One)

Your mind finally registered what you are seeing in front of you as the restraints on your legs and arms were unfastened.

“грузовой автомобиль” (Freight car)

The corner of your lip twitched and you took a deep breath as you glanced up at the man with the red book in his hands.

“Good morning, soldat.” He said as he closed the book. With one final deep breath, you look forward again.

“Ready to comply.” He handed you a file as you stood up from your chair and a woman ran over to quickly re-braid your waist long hair to keep it out of your face.

“Extermination.” He said as you glanced at the front of the file.

“Confirmed.” You said simply as you walked over to the tray of weapons available to you. Your hands worked mindlessly to load up weapons as your hair was finished by the woman. You were handed a heavy handgun and a single rifle bullet. Without another word, you turned out of the main room to complete your mission.

——

The shot was simple. Almost too simple. There was a direct line from the tree line to the street in front of you and enough cover that you could simply blend into the shadows. Not a single person paid any mind to the strange woman that was standing behind a picket fence, no one even seemed to care that you were actually holding your gun against your thigh. They were all more fascinated with the man you were about to kill.

As the car slipped into view, you raised your gun. Time felt like it slowed down as your glove covered fingers pulled back the hammer. You took a deep breath as the motorcade pulled past you and a millisecond after someone else pulled a different trigger, sending a bullet through the man’s throat, you sent your bullet through his skull. Your eyes narrowed the slightest bit as you caught the spent casing and you crushed it between your fingers in your annoyance as a third bullet rang out in a five second window.

“Amateur.” You grumbled in Russian as you set the casing on the fence like the file had told you too before turning and walking away. You slid the gun back in the holder on your hip and walked straight into the throngs of screaming people. You got on your stolen bike and took off down the street to get to where your handler was keeping an eye on the small jet to go back to Russia.

As you sat down in the pilot seat and started up the jet, the shred of humanity that always showed it’s face after a mission shed a single, silent tear. You lifted the jet off the roof of an abandoned warehouse and took off to the northwest toward Russia as John F. Kennedy’s face filed in with the other forty-nine marks the Winter Wolf had taken out.

Part 3

#Bucky x Reader #Natasha x Reader #Winter Wolf #marvelfluffbingo #Winter Wolf Series

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shorthaircutsmodels · 4 years

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The actress shared a photo of a new pixie cut on Instagram with the caption Just hair . A classic Kravitz look when he returns just in time for the holiday season. Kravitz often weathered short hair in the past, often between braids locs or platinum blonde dye work. Even hair deserves to be relaxed during the holidays, right. Zoe Kravitz's Short Hairstyles Zoë Kravitz's Short Haircuts and Hairstyles, The new old look is a close-cropped cut that is just shy of a full buzz cut. A layered and wavy piece of hair is Kravitz's signature carefree-cool-chick vibe with the smallest hint of bursting touching her forehead. Big Little Lies star Zoë Kravitz underwent a major hair transformation, swapping her signature long braids for a super short crop of fairies. Zoe Kravitz's Haircuts and Hairstyles Zoë Kravitz's Short Haircuts and Hairstyles, The actress took to Instagram to reveal her new look after it was revealed last month. Robert Pattinson will star as Catwoman alongside Batman. She first rocked a pixie cut that Kravitz went for a bleached crop in April 2017 and then wore in a slightly longer brunette style. Zoe Kravitz's Hairstyles Zoë Kravitz's Short Haircuts and Hairstyles, You can always count on Zoë Kravitz to inspire your next attempt at effortless cool girl style and her latest hair makeover will no doubt be itching to book a salon appointment stat. But maybe it might take a few days to think about copying that, because it's pretty dramatic and there's absolutely no going back after this cut. Wearing her signature long braids for so long, the actress looked almost unrecognisable in her latest Instagram picture. Zoe Kravitz's Short Hair You may have seen these new box braids on celebrities such as Zoë Kravitz Eva Marcille and Jhené Aiko, but unless you thought of the style as a fabulous weave between goddess locs and box braids. If you want the bohemian look to be shorter than the traditional goddess locs that require braid hair, wrap each braid first with a spinning goddess box of braids may be your answer. It's the shortest thing the Fantastic Beasts star has worn her hair for quite some time but she's no stranger to fairy life. Zoe Kravitz's Hair And yes, in case you're wondering if the Big Little Lies actor is celebrating with a 'new' celebratory selfie. When you have the combined genetics of Lenny Kravitz and Lisa Bonet, unwavering self-expression is rooted deep in your DNA. Plus you know the whole amazing thing. Yet Zoë Kravitz admits she has a rocky road when it comes to locking in her own personal appearance. The daughter of legendary singer Lenny Kravitz and Lisa Bonet, this gorgeous beauty is not only a style icon for many but continues to make headlines with her unusual hair choices. What hairstyle does Zoe Kravitz have? This Naturalista loves to experiment with his tresses and play forever to try something eccentric and daring. From box knitting to fairy brunette Zoe has her own thing and looks to own it all the way! The struggle that the YSL Beauty brand ambassador told us has always been real for me and my hair. When you have a Kinkier texture, the options may seem limited. Note that the operative word has emerged. Zoe Kravitz natural hair Since starting to switch to ordinary natural hair in 2014, the Lolawolf frontwoman and Big Little Lies actress has managed to experiment with an impressive number of styles with box braids. For him, it's a labor of love. She says I really prefer my hair to be natural. Celebrity hairdresser Nikki Nelms, who has worked with Kravitz since 2013, has also noticed a rise in confidence. He's very open to change and doesn't depend on anything Nelms says. Darkening or bleaching to turn length or cut. How do you get your hair like Zoe Kravitz? The same goes for makeup. It shouldn't be something you use to cover up. And I feel like YSL Beauty doesn't want me to cover myself up or be something Kravitz doesn't say. Make-up should highlight your individuality. While Kravitz's philosophy of beauty is good, he can even admit that there was a blast trying that line of reps. the basics are great, he says, and Touche Éclat is like sleeping 24 hours in a pen you can put in your pocket. Zoe Kravitz blonde hair His experiment turned out to be part of a lifelong course. You just have to find out what works for you and what doesn't. Understood. The main difference with Boho box braids is that, unlike traditional box braiding technique, boho braids have a less uniform appearance with wavy hair added to certain points for a finer carefree vibe. From parts to the end the look is deliberately less polished. Kravitz wore accessories with decorations such as hair jewelry and also played with color which spice up this hair. What kind of braiding hair does Zoe Kravitz use? Pulling box braids into a top bun like Zoe usually gives this an added boho edge look. It is well known that box braids and other knitting techniques originated in ancient Africa, where the braids were decorated with Shell feathers jewels and beads. Today boho braids are another reincarnation of our creativity and history. Zoe Kravitz curly hair On Wednesday evening, she revealed she was going for a surprise transformation, returning to her old classic look with a new super short pixie cut. The daughter of the Lenny Kravitz singer and star of the hit series Big Little Lies We are now obsessed with dolls, Zoe Kravitz. One thing we particularly love about her is her attitude towards beauty. She always fascinates us with her constant gaze to try something new with her hair or make-up. Check out his coolest moments here. How do you get Zoe Kravitz box braids? The Big Little Lies actress frequently changes her hairstyles, experimenting with everything from short plants to platinum blonde hair. Tuesday's Instagram however Zoe has long uploaded a photo showing her rocking her brunette braid and posing with her fresh pixie cut. Hair she captioned the snap by adding a scissor emoji. Zoe Kravitz hair cut Zoe did not add further details, but her likely transformation is Matt Reeves's Robert Pattinson with Paul Dano Jeffrey Wright with John Turturro and Andy Serkis in the role of Selina Kyle Catwoman in Batman. The film is scheduled for release in June 2021. Zoe " s post caught the attention of her celebrity followers by adding Charlize Theron looks so good that she's so beautiful Abbie Cornish and Emily Ratajkowski adding Yes with a heart-eye emoji. Summer may be winding down but a protective style is just warming up. What is a goddess braid? Boho box weaves also known as Gypsy or goddess box weaves are officially here and posed to take over if you missed it. While she looks great with literally any haircut, Zoë Kravitz was made for short hair. Or should I say that these trendy short haircuts are just meant for her. Kravitz showed off a new pixie haircut on instagram Part new and part og Zoë got a wavy look. This time, Kravitz has become a close product, with tons of texture on top and a carefree vibe waving forward. They're Baby Bang's baby and she looks beautiful. Zoe Kravitz white hair A question for beauty fans: is there anything more universal than a post-salon selfie? Then a haircut ritual unites hair care aficionados everywhere, if we stop with less light, or a big chop of La Zoe Kravitz's new pixie cut. The Pixie cut continued its reign as the hairstyle of the moment on Sunday night at the 2017 Emmy Awards thanks to Zoë Kravitz, who paired her short-Shagged hairstyle with a fantastic Dior dress. Do you dip Goddess Braids? The Big Little Lies star was one of the best looks of the night. So what's the perfect fairy secret? Hairdresser Nikki Nelms, who has worked with stars such as Janelle Monáe Beyoncé and Kravitz, explains that it all started with a great cut. It really started with a textured cut because it says it's there no matter how the wind blows its texture. Here Nelms talks about the trend and offers her top tips and tricks for designing a fairy cut for a night out. Zoe Kravitz hair braids Zoë Kravitz is a million style icons. Her fearless choices on and off the red carpet encourage black women in particular to take risks with our beauty style and hair. So I was elated when the new brunette shared a photo of pixie cut on Instagram. There is a very narrow definition of beauty for black actresses, who often have long flowing hair. Kravitz often tries new things with his hair and shows the world that there are a Million Ways Black women can look inspiring. Here are 16 of his most iconic hair looks of all time.

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gamerprincess13 · 6 years

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Fire Emblem Heroes Unit Review: Henry (Trick or Defeat!)

“Nice work out there. You don't have to be such a goody-goody, though. You should play some tricks on people sometimes... Have a little fun! Nya ha ha!”

Available: 5-Star (only on the limited time Trick or Defeat Banner)

Neutral Stats: 36/33/34/26/36 (Best IV’s: +Attack; -HP is his best one to preserve his other stats if possible.)

Default Kit:

Spectral Tome+ (12 Might: After combat, bonuses becomes penalties on all foes within 2 spaces through foe’s next action)

Special: Reprisal (Grants bonus to damage dealt equal to 30% of damage suffered) Cooldown: 2 Turns

B-Slot: Live for Honor (If unit survives, get 1.5x normal badges from a Training Tower map. If similar skill effects also used, only highest multiplier applied)

C-Slot: Armor March 3 (If unit has an adjacent armored ally at the start of turn, unit and any such allies can move 1 extra space. That turn only, does not stack)

Pros:

Great attack

Great speed

Tied with Amelia and the Black Knight for the highest speed for an armored unit

Fantastic Resistance

Tied with Wrys at 36 with the highest Res in the game

Natural access to Armor March 3 allows Henry and his allies close to him gain two movement

Spectral Tome+ gives access to Panic status to foes after combat (both Player and Enemy Phase)

Very flexible with any tome

Creates Fang-tastic puns

Cons:

Low defense for an armor unit

Also low HP

Reprisal isn’t the best special for Henry

Reliant on allies to get extra movement

Limited time unit

Happy Halloween everyone! I hope you guys had a relaxing Halloween this year, and for all of you summoners out there, hope you got your desired spooky unit for this year. So in celebration of the Halloween season, it’s time for the most blood-thirsty yet cheery and pun master unit to take center stage: Henry! To differentiate this Henry from the regular Henry, I’ll refer to this Henry as Count Henry. There’s no pun to create for Henry as a vampire, so forgive me!

Anyway, Count Henry, alongside Fraken-Jakob (Trick or Defeat Jakob), is the first ranged armored unit in the game. Armor Emblem is strictly melee and had difficulties dealing with ranged units, especially Reinhardt and Brave Lyn. Thanks to the addition of two ranged units taking form as a mage and an archer, Armor Emblem is starting to form a challenge to unsuspecting players. In this Vampire’s case, Henry is a green armored mage with excellent resistance, great speed and attack. Oh gods, Count Henry is literally Reinhardt’s new Knight-Mare! Get it?

...I’m going to make a lot of puns in this review, aren’t I?

Moving on to the default set. Count Henry’s weapon of choice is the Spectral Tome+, where after combat, foes 2 spaces of Count Henry will have their bonuses turn into penalties, which can cripple some of the foes badly, especially if they’re a themed team *cough cough Horse Emblem*. This tome also fits Count Henry’s character as he casts curses, so him curing his foes by making their strength turn against them is great, and creates a caw-tastrophe!

His special is Reprisal, which doesn’t suit his stat-line very well as he has very low HP to take advantage to it, so switch it to something better. His B-Slot is Live for Honor, which should only be used for Training Tower and that’s it. His C-Slot is a fantastic skill: Armor March 3. This skill was locked to Amelia, and it allows Count Henry’s armored allies around him gain an extra movement, which is incredible! Also, the extra movement provided from Armor March 3 will allow them to pass by the forest tiles no problem!

Skill Inheritance provides Count Henry new tricks up his sleeve. His A-Slot can be something like Triangle Adept 3 to handle blue units better, or something like Distant Defense 3 to allow Count Henry to tank ranged hits much better, especially on the physical side. Fury can be a nice budget option if none of these skills are in your barracks, though be wary about the 6 HP cost on him. His B-Slot can be a -breaker skill, Vantage 3 to surprise his foes, or Quick Riposte 3 to retaliate to his foes, regardless if IV’s. Wary Fighter is a decent skill for him, but keep in mind that Count Henry can’t double if he has this skill. He can also run either Bold or Vengeful Fighter 3 depending on how you want to build Count Henry. C-Slot, if he’s on Armor Emblem or if he has one armor ally, Armor March 3 should stay. If he’s not, he can utilize ploy skills such as Attack/Resistance Ploy 3 due to his incredible Resistance stat, or even Threaten Resistance 3 since the ploy skills are difficult to obtain.

His special should be switched to something more safer and practical such as Iceberg (especially if he’s +Res) or Luna if you like. Hey, better than Reprisal, am I right? Count Henry’s assist can either be Swap or Pivot to give him more mobility regardless if he’s on an Armor Emblem team or not.

Yet this vampire has problems he can’t patch up with his own magic. Count Henry has the lowest Defense and HP stat for an armored unit, though his defense is not too shabby for a magic unit. While Count Henry has Armor March 3 to gain extra movement, he needs his allies to get the movement, so if he’s far away from his allies, he’ll only move like how every armor unit would. Also, his banner is only there for a limited amount of time, so unless you’re an extreme whale, merging Count Henry is tricky to do and you’ll miss your chance on obtaining a ranged armor unit.

Regardless, Count Henry is one hell of a unit that’s needed for Armor Emblem, alongside with his magic bringing mayhem when one least expects it. So pull for this blood thirsty vampire and watch him unleash a Knight-mare of spells on his foes!

Suggested Skills (Bolded means Highly Recommended):

Weapon:

Spectral Tome+ (default)

Gronnraven+

Gronnowl+

Gronnblade+

Special:

Iceberg

Glacies

Luna

Moonbow

Assist:

Swap

Pivot

A-Slot:

Triangle Adept 3

Distant Defense 3

Fury 3

B-Slot:

-Breaker skill

Quick Riposte 2/3

Vantage 3

Bold Fighter 3

Vengeful Fighter 3

Wings of Mercy 3

Renewal 3

C-Slot:

Armor March 3 (default)

-Ploy Skills (if outside Armor Emblem)

Threaten Resistance

Counters:

Distant Counter sword units like Ike, Black Knight, and Ryoma

Triangle Adept 3 Red tome users like Sanaki

Brave Sword/Bow users

Teammates:

Armor units like Effie, Black Knight, and Fraken-Jakob to take advantage of Armor March 3

Also makes use of Hone/Fortify Armor

Red magic checks such as Delthea

Lance units such as Effie, Camus, Ephraim, Tsubaki, Oscar

A flier with Guidance like Tana

Summoner’s Words of Wisdom: “Ooh, scary! Armor Emblem now poses a challenge to the other Emblem teams. Most certainly, a certain blue mage is screaming that he now has to deal with another Knight-Marish green mage! Oh, and they’re closer than you think! The horror!”

Updated as of Version 2.4

#fire emblem heroes #fe heroes unit review #henry #count henry #trick or defeat

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survivor-rotuma · 5 years

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Ep. 5: “Our tribemates had to die for MYSANDRE to rise.” - Lysandre

Felix

I'm kind of glad Raul is gone. To me, he was the biggest liability in all the alliances I had with him. It is just a shame to see someone I made an alliance with early in this game get eliminated like that. However, now that means Marie will continue to be a target for Cassie at merge, and I can still work with Lysandre. They are a valuable asset to me. I would not want to bring them to the end, but I would love to take them as far as I could to ensure my own safety. Right now, if it is a final 3 scenario, I want to take Flint and Joey since they seem the least active and the most trustworthy. Plus, they don't seem to have games at the moment, but I'll have to keep an eye on that as we go along. Final 2 scenario for me is definitely with Joey though at his point in the game.

Boris

"Sorry for my lack of confessionals lately. Just literally nothing is happening. My tribe basically died completely as far as activity goes and I'm just sitting pretty until merge anyways so!

Yeah go me woo"

Felix

"I don't want to summarize. So take this chat log instead.

TLDR: Joey confirms to me that we're ride or dies which makes my FTC plans more possible. He wants Sumi to win the challenge and for either Mea or us to go to tribal. I want us to go to tribal because, well, I don't trust Charlie to remain loyal to us.

What do you think about all that's happened?

Joey, 8:10 PM: i think we're the only ones who have never been to tribal

8:10 PM: Yeah I think so!

Joey, 8:10 PM: what's the tribe that's not mea

8:10 PM: Sumi

Joey, 8:10 PM: yeah i think at merge it's gonna be based on tribal lines

8:11 PM: Mea will defintely be the people in the middle. We need to reel them in if we want to stay the majority based on tribal lines

Joey, 8:11 PM: exactly that's why i'm wondering if losing the next challenge would be bad for us

8:13 PM: Yeah someone will have to lose it. If Sumi loses then they have 4 against our 5. But that means Mea will want to work with them more since we'd be a threat due to our size. Though if we lose, then we have to convince Mea on the same principles to vote out a person from Sumi. It's kind of a tricky situation to be in. But hen if Mea goes to tribal again, then that'd just be one person to convince but then it'd be deadlocked

I think this might be the most important immunity pre-merge

Joey, 8:14 PM: i agree like honestly best case scenario is Mea loses again lol but i think if sumi loses we could be in trouble obviously i'm loyal to the four but above all you're my ride or die man

8:15 PM: Are you suggesting that you throw the challenge? Tsk tsk how unsportmanlike lol. But I wouldn't mind it. The worst that happens is that we vote out Charlie

Joey, 8:15 PM: i hate throwing challenges lmao but i think it depends on the challenge i think regardless of what happens we want sumi to win make them the threats

8:16 PM: I think so too. Whatever direction you take this in, I'll follow. And you're my ride or die too! I've bonded with you the most out of everyone here and think you're awesome!

I'll trust your instincts on how to tackle this immunity. Good luck either way!

Joey, 8:17 PM: haha i appreciate it man!! we'll definitely touch base and see what happens "

Felix

This eraser will definitely help out at merge, especially those early votes. I think I'll use it the second merge starts just to make sure we have the numbers to kick out someone from Sumi. It sucks that I didn't get one of those big advantages tho

Flint

That auction was cut throat, woof!

Marie

"Hi, I’m Spencer from Cagayan you might of heard of me as the most unlucky survivor player ev-

NO BITCH MOVE OUTTA THE WAY ITS ME MARIE. O k, so my tribe is already down to 2 people. And now our chances are even worse?????????? Wow I have horrible intuition "

Cassie

Well that auction was a bit of a bust for me personally, but as for our five person unit it wasn't too bad. After I brought in a ten percent overall disadvantage for the next immunity, Joey scored big with that advantages. Plus Felix as well. I still believe in the Tuai power!

Joey

So I had a chat with Felix earlier today about the game. At this point I've coasted very easily through pre-merge since i have yet to attend a tribal council, but as the individual game approaches, it's time to go from a direct UTR/MOTR to a CPM legend! Obviously, Sumi and Tuai are pretty evenly placed going into the merge, but personally I think we're the bigger threat. We've never lost a challenge nor attended tribal together, so it's a lot easier for us to band together with numbers and I think the other tribes are smart enough to see that. So, I was throwing around the idea of potentially throwing the next challenge and booting Charlie so that we would go into merge with a numbers disadvantage to Sumi and have a lot of swaying power for the Mea duo. However, with my challenge advantage as well as Felix's vote eraser, we have a lot of opportunities opening up that we can hopefully capitalize on!

Flint

Turns out my machete advantage from the auction holds no power. So now I have to decide, tell people that I didn’t receive an advantage or lie about it and create a fake advantage to gain favor in the game. I’m a terrible liar but I think I should create some lie to help gain insight from others

Bradley

I am truly a mess and Jay deserves better. Been dealing with life changing stuff and its been keeping me away from checking in the game. I got a strike and its my first one ever and i feel so bad. Gunna try harder but still dealing with stiff so we’ll see.

Lysandre

"Oh boi I hope your'e ready for a thicc confessional. So I survived last round miraculously! Marie didn't vote me out lmaooo.

The reward challenge is here!! And the reward is an Auction!! I'm heading into the auction trying to snag something so that I can at least boost ability to navigate in the game. Some notable things from the auction: Joey gets a 15% advantage in the challenge, Felix gets to negate a vote, Marie gets a 10% disadvantage in the challenge hjefwkbvkaevbkj.fe bdka and Boris gets to pick someone from any tribe for a movie night.

I SNAGGED AN EXTRA VOTE at the AUCTION AND HOW I DID IT WAS ICONIC. So me and like 5 people bid on the same item and it got randomized 3 times and I picked spot number 4 to be the winner. The person in spot number 4 was none other than LYSANDRE. AHA!!

Now the speculation begins. Charlie bought a mask and I believe that the mask holds the ability for her to see the votes for one round. I have no idea what Apollo has but it may be an exile pass or like a clue to merge idol?? I think the first tho. Also who the hell knows what Brianna has. I believe Flint bought the power to give someone a disadvantage.

OMG BORIS PICKED ME FOR THE MOVIE. This is literally the best outcome I can think of. During the short time that I was on another tribe I really clicked well with Boris and I liked him a bunch. I really want him to be my ride or die moving forward into the game. I'd love to hear who he's close with and could pull me in with. I also want to gain a lot of his trust by willing off my extra vote to him since I have my idol. the only way I would do that is if I tell him about my having an idol .

JAY RELEASED THE CHALLENGE AND IM IN SUCH A CRISIS. It's Duolingo which is really oof. What makes it Biig OOOOF is the fact that we are learning the language of Game of Thrones or something. Do I look Like Arya or something???? So in order to drag me AND Marie into the merge I'm going to have to speak like the Valyrian, eat like the Valyrian, become the Valyrian, experience Valyrian. "

Lysandre

Marie is kind of a liability. She publicly announces things that shouldn't be announced and she now knows about my extra vote even tho its obvi. She was cute until she started anti returnee propoganda dbkvka l but I probably will keep her around unless we lose and battle.

Marie

Lys and I have a fire lit under our asses, but maybe that’s what we need to get our tribe of two to win

Bryan

I. Hate. Duolingo. So much. I hate being one of the two people participating. And I hate that Bradley is never online and is probably gonna barely contribute so it all rests to me. That sounds rude. If Bradley does end up contributing I will make an apology confession.

Felix

With recent news that we are losing majorly in this challenge, it seems Tuai might have to go to tribal for the first time in this game. The vote would obviously go towards Charlie, but what if she has an idol? I have an idol, but is that the only idol on the island? Things get crazier and crazier everyday but I am hopeful that things turn out alright. I really do hope she gets eliminated if we go to tribal, then we can make it to merge

Lysandre

People call me Lys now. I guess Lys is short for Lysol because I stay cleaning these bitches

Charlie

"I have a feeling I might be voted out this round, I think it has to do with how im performing in challenges

Boris

"that auction... whew!! So many hidden powers that's def gonna fuck me up in the future. And all I got was a pair of $400 movie tickets. The most EXPENSIVE movie i've ever seen, and it's gonna be a documentary about Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez lmao.

I chose Lysandre for the movie night bc? They're my fave from our fake swap tribe and even though they probably don't have a lot of juicy tea to spill because they're on Mea, I might as well start trying to build a strong relationship to prepare for merge"

Boris

also I was kinda worried about Brianna and Bradley having to compete in this next challenge for us because they sat out last time but so far it looks okay? Brianna seems to be doing #that and Tuai is trudging behind, which is perFECT because it'd give Sumi a numbers advantage in the merge. so yeah! come thru!

Apollo

2 things. Thank god I don’t have to compete in the duolingo challenge and I am so lucky to have received the extra vote. With a super idol and a vote steal and who knows what else out there, any extra advantage that’s out there? From now on? I’ll take it. I have the time to complete the challenge but not the patience nor the desire to. The gag is if Brianna or Bradley don’t put up enough effort and we lose? They don’t know that it’s their asses on the line. If we lost I think Brianna should go since she’s more of a threat than Bradley could ever be. Bradley will end up being loyal to us if we lose. It’s convoluted but if we lose my plan is. Convince Brianna and Bradley to vote for Zest. Convince Brianna that’s zest is voting for her. Convince Brianna that Zest has an idol and to vote Bradley in case Zest isn’t lying. Actually vote Brianna along with Borris and Zest. Brianna leaves in a 3-1-1 vote. Bradley would be shook and thankful that we saved him and we’d tell him afterwards that Brianna wanted him out. Then we’re a strong foursome with a goat in Bradley. Would I like to execute this plan? Yes, absolutely. But winning immunity would be just as satisfying.

Cassie

Waiting on results for this challenge has left me feeling quite nervous. Both Charlie and Joey have their reasons for not being able to catch up as much and it makes me more nervous. I don’t like feeling this way.

Marie

OH MY GOD WE MIGHT NOT GO TO TRIBAL, but then again those might be my famous last words

Lysandre

"So this duolingo challenge is agonizing but I'm giving it all I have so that me and Marie can rock this thing. She wants us to get 1st place because she thinks that the last two tribes will both be going to tribal council. I would agree with her and I'm aiming for first.

Also can't wait for my movie night with Boris to begin!! I know its going to be good and I plan on solidifying something with him!"

Brianna

2nd place. But we still have to go to tribal. Ugh. Um. Kind of don’t know what’s gonna happen. Probably gonna be zest or Bradley.

Felix

Charlie is gone. Or she will be. There's no way the Tuai Quad LLC will vote for each other. Unless we are snakes in the grass. Also, this double tribal council is iconic. Now the stakes are even going into merge. Let's see how this goes

Cassie

Well damn. I had a feeling we wouldn’t make it without a tribal, at least as a whole tribe. It seemed as though the disadvantage didn’t matter too much though as we were below Sumi anyways. Tonight should be the easy vote, I hope.

Marie

THE TRIBE OF TWO LIVES ON!

Felix

"Flint does not trust Joey which is understandable. I mean he doesn't trust Charlie either, but he hasn't talked to either extensively. Joey seems to not have a social game which proves that he is the perfect goat to bring to FTC (at least in this stage in the game). I have no doubt that Charlie will go since Cassie has already cast her vote, and Joey will vote Charlie since he's the other one on the chopping block. I will also vote Charlie. That 3-2 if Flint goes against us. But that most likely will not happen.

Cassie is so smug. She already cast her vote for Charlie. She cannot fathom us betraying her. She thinks she is in charge of this tribe which might be true. But she's got me so close that she can't see the snakes in her garden. It's infested honey! Flint already has doubts about the alliance, and I'm already plotting your downfall. Her garden of snakes will be the end of her!"

Lysandre

"Wow I can't believe that me and Marie are in the lead for this challenge!!

And my movie night with Boris was a huge success from it I learned that he has half of a super idol and he found an advantage that allowed him to see how many alliances a person was in and he chose Felix and revealed it was 2 alliances he was in. I first had to share my extra vote with him and we were solid. We started watching Knock Down The House documentary on Netflix and so Alexandria Ocasio Cortez or AOC for short was the icon that we bonded over. Since I had already seen the documentary I had just opened my duolingo in another tab and continued that lmao I refuse to lose!! Towards the end when AOC won I decided to really really solidify things with Boris by telling him about my idol. LITTLE DID I KNOW Boris the Brute had an idol as well!! From that point we decided to really work together and share our collective power.

Other notable events during movie night include an exposing Felix party as well as Briana possibly having the other part to the idol. Oh and Me and Boris also decided to name our alliance after AOC. Thats our final 2.. the AOC FINAL 2!!"

Lysandre

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH Me and Marie WON!!! Mea WINS and we get to avoid fire making!!! Also Marie was right! The losing TWO tribes went to tribal. SO WE DID THAT by getting first place. Our tribemates had to die for MYSANDRE to rise.

Now that we won I can't help but hope that Boris survives. He needs to up his social game or else he's in trouble. Apparently his social game is ok at best because Apollo didnt tell him what his advantage was and yet Boris claims they are close so what is the truth.

Meanwhile me and Marie are discussing the game and our potential future at a merge and a strategy that may work for us. Lets go Mysandre and Lysoris!!

Flint

Ugh this is a tough loss and I’m so torn on what to do. I’ve heard both Joey and Charlie’s names being thrown out as an option. I was close with Joey at the beginning but we’ve seem to have drifted apart. Charlie did better in the challenge so that could also factor into my vote. With all the auction items on the table and talk of a potential merge this could be an interesting tribal.

Apollo

Imagine, me, finally getting the opportunity to play with Zib Zab. Imagine, me, thinking she was Karen in the beginning of the game. I think Boris is my mom. And if she’s not, And she is Karen, well, she’s doing a great job of being incognito

Marie

It’s so weird not planning for tribal, I’m so proud of lys and myself

Colin

"Last nights movie date has me SHOOK. Im so glad I picked Lysandre, we built such a strong connection in the limited time we were allowed to spend together, and I think despite us barely having time to connect I can consider them my biggest ally, even across tribal lines, so I hope we can both make it to merge in one piece!!

Lysandre gave me so much info last night; Felix is playing hard asf, there WERE alliances made on one world and the fake swap that I wasnt included in, and both Lysandre and I have our tribe's idols.

Knowing all of this is a game changer, I have to adapt my strategy to how everyone else is playing and hope it works out in my favor. "

Boris

ALSO this double tribal is ugly at. Bradley did the absolute bare minimum to not get a strike but we all see how poorly hes performing. Ugh I want him gone so badly so that we can have a strong tribe going into merge. Apollo and Zest are giving me a little push back, insisting Brianna is more of a threat but i don't care!! We got way bigger threats to worry about when merge hits!! We need to make it through as a stronger tribe, not a weaker one

Felix

Welp, she's gone. I wonder how things will go for Sumi. I'm just excited to make it to the merge!

Flint

The last tribal went off as hoped with no idols or funny business played. I feel bad for voting Charlie out but I can’t play with my heart and need to toughen up to make it far in this game.

Lysandre

It feels so good to not have a tribal or fire to worry about?? I am really relieved lol. It looks like Charlie left and thats ok because I didn't even know the person. I just hope Boris doesn't die lmao. I hope he uses his idol this round though.

Apollo

"https://media1.tenor.com/images/224ee4a75a647fa6154d57dfada003ac/tenor.gif?itemid=13920223

I suppose I’ll be a passenger for now. Brianna is going to stay and Bradley will be leaving if all goes according to plan. I’ll let Borris take control so that he becomes a bigger target than I come the merge. I love Borris but I guess I would cut him if it was a f2. I’m going to try and use this time to try and get Zest to be my f2 partner."

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gyromitra-esculenta · 7 years

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Question

Reaper76week stuff, day 2. Pardon my french, Je l'ai étudié six mois il y a dix ans. role/body swap. If you can find the point where the dreaded drabble got away from me... Translations for Widowmaker under link.

“Reyes, I’m telling you, as your SIC, stay where you are and let it all blow over,” Jack sounds so irritatingly calm for someone who drugged him earlier and left him in some god-forsaken safehouse on the other side of the globe. “Serious shit is going down, the kind it’s better for Strike-Commander to be away for.”

“You mean all this chatter on the news about Blackwatch storming Zurich?”

“I’m trying to minimize the casualties. Whole building is compromised. There are demolition and concussion charges set throughout.”

“And you want me to believe that, Morrison?” Gabriel grinds out.

“You know that over the half of the committee you were scheduled with didn’t arrive? They didn’t even have charters, Reyes. They never intended to set foot in Zurich.”

“Fuck.”

“Yeah. This was an assassination attempt. I left you all data on our internal investigation. You’ve trusted me so far, even with the leak, trust me now. We’ve got almost everyone out, working on disabling the charges. Besides, you called me, not anyone else.”

“You could have told me, Morrison!”

“You wouldn’t have listened. Other thing, it’s not in the report, Gerard is al…”

Whatever the blonde is trying to tell him, it gets lost in electrical whine and then, static. Gabriel’s eyes flick to the holoscreen, where the building of Zurich Headquarters trembles and then collapses on itself. Shit. If there was an emp charge, Jack’s comm unit should have restarted by now, unless it got bricked. Seconds trickle by.

“…fuck… they activated them remotely…” There is a cough in the static, wet and unpleasant. “…’s maybe better for you… to stay dead… Gabe.”

“Where were you exactly in the building?” Gabriel asks through gritted teeth.

“…don’t bother… either gonna suffocate… or drown… won’t let me live anyways… no-one’s gonna get to basements…”

“Jack.”

“…considering… stay dead… with me,” there is a plea in the blonde’s voice. Gabriel closes his eyes. “…not long…”

“I’m here, Jack.”

“…thanks… not long…”

“I’m here.”

Sounds of labored breathing on the other side stop five minutes later.

“We have incoming reports that Strike-Commander Gabriel Reyes might have been caught in the blast that leveled down the Overwatch Zurich Headquarters. He was seen entering the building before the combatants, now identified as part of infamous Blackwatch, stormed it. There are eye-witness accounts of a dispute between Strike-Commander and his second in command, Commander Jack Morrison…”

Gabriel mutes the holoscreen and stares at it. How? He wasn’t even there, he isn’t even on the same continent – he is in fucking South America.

He shakes his head and skims the report Jack left him. It is a lot to take in, he needs a lot of time, and…

“I made a fail-safe, if everything goes fubar. You will probably get reported dead, sorry for those ‘personal effects’, I’ll get you a new coat if anything, so, again, in case it all goes to hell, you can lay low until it unfucks itself. The house is stocked with everything you might need, out of OW and BW notice. Here’s a list of those I have around.”

So that’s where a part of those disappearing funds he never managed to track went. In recent years he accused Jack of being paranoid. Now he knows it wasn’t without a reason.

“Now, I’ll probably get my ass killed, but you will have me to blame for everything, so OW’s going to be probably all right in the end. There’s a lot I didn’t manage to track, but that’s a good starting point. There are some definite hits on OW agents. Hope I managed to take out some of them. Most were under my nose, regardless. This shit goes deep. I’ll leave you to it. Love you. See you around. Jack.”

Fuck. Jack could have come to him. But Gabriel realizes that he had. Several times. He just wasn’t listening then and the blonde wasn’t pressing. When did he start to formulate a plan like this?

Two days are spent looking for a suitable body. He arms the self-destruct charges at the safehouse. It is better to stay dead.

Groundwork takes three years. By this time, he stops using Jack’s safehouses, more so when it becomes evident someone else is using them too – subtle traces of one’s presence, never too much, but nonetheless, it is there. He has his own set up now around the globe.

Gabriel briefly wonders who else could have the access to Jack’s list.

Rumors about a new mercenary tied to Talon resurface. The only things consistent in the reports are his ruthlessness, apparent vendetta against Overwatch personnel and dislike for getting recorded.

Word is out that this ‘Reaper’ is a ghost moving through walls, sucking out people’s souls, and no-one is ever left alive in his wake.

Gabriel notices the Blackwatch symbol in one of the rare pictures taken.

Some of the agents taken out by Reaper are the same ones as the names in Jack’s report, Gabriel realizes.

It sets him on edge

The news start to call him ‘Soldier Death’. Gabriel decides to keep the image.

The bounty on McCree goes up again, ten times up now. It shouldn’t be a surprise – Jack trained that kid personally. Fought for him.

If anyone’s going to have any pertinent information about the inner workings of Blackwatch Gabriel doesn’t know himself, it’s going to be Jesse. He only needs to find him before Reaper does.

Everything goes to shit when he tries to access the mainframe in one of the abandoned Blackwatch safehouses. Reaper is deathly silent in his approach and only pure luck saves him from getting his head shot off. The rifle seems familiar, Gabriel thinks.

There is so much anger behind that strange mask it’s palatable in the air. Gabriel manages a hit dead centre on the mercenary’s torso and the man scatters literally into dark smoke that hisses at him. It moves with a mind of its own, floats away.

He gets drunk that night. People don’t turn into angrily hissing smoke.

He tracks down McCree two months later. Gabriel doesn’t approach, because Jesse is talking, of all the people, with Reaper. The mercenary throws something to the kid and then again turns into smoke and blends with shadows.

He doesn’t drink again. Twice isn’t some wild hallucination. It’s a start of a pattern.

“Pardner, they not gonna pay the bounty, you realize?” McCree drawls, inhaling the smoke of his cigarette, not fazed by the barrel of a shotgun digging into back of his head.

“I’m not interested. I want information.” Gabriel nudges him and Jesse turns.

“My lucky day,” the kid spares him a glance. “Soldier Death himself. What can I do for you, pardner?”

“Blackwatch operations.”

“No wonder he’s itching to splatter you against a wall,” Jesse rolls his eyes. “Left before shit went down, can’t help you much.”

Gabriel growls and pulls back his hood, and then undoes the clasps of his mask. McCree’s eyes grow big.

“He’s gonna shit himself when he hears that… Commander Reyes.”

“We’re going to have a good long talk, McCree.”

They sit in one of Jack’s safehouses. It’s evidently lived in.

“I’m using them too,” Jesse offers unquestioned. “He just told me to go along and keep safe. And wait for orders.”

“Not doing so good on that,” the shotgun rests between them on the table. “Reaper.”

McCree visibly winces.

“He is… was Blackwatch. Loyal. On a team in Zurich. They used experimental tech trying to keep him alive, went very wrong.”

“Ziegler’s nanotech.” It all comes together. Twice is a pattern.

“Yeah. Apparently not so good on someone dead already. Try not to get in his way, he’s got memory issues since then, might not remember you’re on the same side. You know, Commander,” Jesse looks to the side, undecided, and then writes something out on a scrap of paper. “About Morrison. There’s a cache in Dorado. He wanted you to get it in case he… died. The Blackwatch stuff, you’re going to find it there. Full copy of everything, of stuff that never made it to the archives.”

Gabriel takes the coordinates.

“And Reyes… Jack. I think he was in love with you.” There’s a hint of reproach in McCree’s words.

“I know,” is all that Gabriel can answer.

He makes it to Dorado. At the end of the first day he’s shaken. There’s so much of it all, of all the things Jack kept from him, of all the things he never authorized that bear his own signature.

There are surveillance photos of a man that bears striking similarities to Gerard Lacroix. Marked as Talon operative. There are even more pictures of him meeting the members of UN Overwatch Committee.

Gabriel’s bounty goes up with last hit on Talon operations, and he smirks. He might not be doing much, but he manages to hit them where it hurts. Where it counts.

The mercenary finds him next day and they reach a stalemate, each with gun trained on the other. Gabriel observes as the tension slowly leaves the man and his finger on the trigger eases off.

“Good job,” the voice is like a metallic rustle of filings. Reaper lowers his rifle and retreats without a shot fired.

Again he is left with more questions than answers.

He alternates now between his own and Jack’s safehouses. Three months later he finds one that is occupied. He enters with his shotguns drawn.

Familiar cloak and mask lie on the table. The man that sits in the chair with his back to the doors has white hair and pale skin. On his visible arm there are splotches of grey that look like they are changing shape and moving.

“If you invade someone’s home, have at least decency to knock, Gabe.” The voice is all too recognizable and Gabriel feels his hands waver.

“Jack…?”

“You look like you’ve seen a ghost.” Jack laughs, standing up and turning. Two deep gashes cut his face, the eyes are blue and glowing, without pupils, and there’s a fucking stitched autopsy incision on his chest and stomach. “No shit, you look like your heart’s going to give up any second…”

Gabriel throws away his guns and closes the distance between them. He grabs Jack’s head between his hands and kisses him, and after a short moment it is reciprocated, and, god, why had he never done that before?

“So,” Jack chuckles in the morning, ”it only took me almost dying for you to…”

Gabriel stares at him. ‘He’s got memory issues since then’ echoes in his head and Jack stares at his own arm, at the patch of grey moving towards his wrist with a strange focus.

“Shit, shit, shit… What’s the date?”

Jack wolfs down cold stew like he hadn’t eaten in days.

“What I’m saying is, at best, I’m like sci-fi zombie or vampire that reanimates all the time. At worst, I’m a sentient cluster of nanomachines carrying biomatter and I only think I’m myself,” he explains matter-of-factly. “And memory retention’s shit. Takes time to get a hold of it.”

‘It doesn’t matter’ is what Gabriel wants to tell him. Instead he merely nods.

“Only had to get almost blown up, huh?” Jack asks next day.

“Had me scared there,” Gabriel humors him for a moment.

“It’s hard keeping it all there, it’s like they don’t want me to change a bit. It depends on things around me when I wake up, like they pull up associations rather. At least it keeps me consistent. Go down as Reaper, wake up as Reaper.”

Gabriel wakes up to a soft mantra of repeated words, Jack kneeling by him, clutching the mask to his chest, tears falling down from his chin.

“You’re alive,” he says it again, like a prayer, and Gabriel brings up his hand to Jack’s face.

“Focus, Morrison.”

“It’s turning real bothersome, isn’t it?” Statement, not question, as Jack looks at him over the table.

“I don’t mind.” He doesn’t. “We will work something out.”

“Don’t wanna to intrude on a moment,” McCree calls from the hall. “But remember that job you pulled in Gibraltar, boss?”

Jack stills for a second, eyes closed, concentration plain on his face.

“Data retrieval I half botched?”

“That one, boss. Winston’s doing a recall.” Jesse sits down in a free chair and eyes them both suspiciously, purses his lips noting their state of undress. Gabriel remembers he had an obvious crush on Jack. “Immediately after. Had a problem locating you.”

“I wasn’t keeping up with… stuff.”

“I noticed,” McCree, the little shit, inclines his head to Gabriel. “What’s on your mind, boss?”

“Petras is still in effect, it’s going to be problematic. You want to sign up, Jesse?”

“Maybe. The bounty is becoming bothersome, boss.”

“You should join them too,” Jack quips week later, mask askew and lips grey, while they wait for their target.

“Morrison, you died for me. The least I can do is to stick by your side.” Gabriel shakes his head. “We both come back, or we don’t.”

Jack scoffs.

Every morning is like walking on broken glass. One can get used to it.

“They’re not happy.” Jesse is mumbling on the line. “Not about boss.”

“Then fucking tell them I’m coming and I’m bringing him with myself. Not Soldier, fucking Strike-Commander, and he comes with me. So they can stuff it.”

“You sure?”

“Don’t make me repeat myself.”

They’re all tense. Gabriel stops and Jack has a claw hooked in leather of his jacket. He doesn’t need to look back to know there are dark tendrils trailing behind them both.

He slides his hood off and slowly takes off the mask with teeth painted on. There are gasps of disbelief.

“Told you all,” Jesse smirks, but Gabriel concentrates on Angela’s look of horrified realization.

“You, Ziegler, and I, we are going to have a good long heart to heart. You keep your mouth shut. You’re not going anywhere close to him before that, understood?” Jack shudders behind him. She just nods. “We’re taking commander’s quarters.”

“So you’re hiding me in Gibraltar?” Jack murmurs sleepily and Gabriel smiles, lacing their fingers together.

“Pretty much.”

“How long was I out?” Blue glowing eyes blink, unfocused.

“Too long, Jack,” Gabriel places a kiss on his forehead. “Focus on what you remember last.”

They have a routine worked out. Gabriel worries about times he might not be there when Jack wakes up.

Jack disappears after a raid on Talon’s weapon transport. He comes back several hours later, sneaks into their room, unconscious Widowmaker in his arms.

“Jack?”

“She could’ve shot me. She didn’t. That means it’s wearing off,” Jack looks to the side. “They’d notice it soon and recondition her again.”

“What am I…” Gabriel shakes his head.

“Call Ziegler.” There’s determined finality in Jack’s voice. “Have her come here with a gurney.”

Have her see how the room is arranged, have her see me, is what Jack means.

They are alone in the infirmary, if not for Widowmaker in her containment cell.

“Le traitre,” she welcomes Jack, hissing.

“You can stop pretending, Amelie,” Jack responds in his normal voice and she recoils, distrust written on her face, eyes scanning the room. “You’re not going back there.”

“Comment dois-je vous faire confiance?”

“You’re not going to be how you were before,” Jack removes his mask. “But you are going to get better.”

“Ah, commandant Morrison,” her gaze lands on Gabriel. “Commandant Reyes. Ces promesses.”

“And you can help us take Gerard down.”

Amelie smiles like a predator.

“J'écoute attentivement.”

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry, Jack,” Angela whispers as she cuts into his arm, but Jack refuses to look at her, his eyes steady on the wall – if there is any pain, he doesn’t acknowledge it – he doesn’t acknowledge her. “They said they’ve found the body, and I was desperate. I wasn’t losing both of you. I had no idea…”

Widowmaker chuckles from her cell.

“That’s enough,” Gabriel takes a hold of Jack’s arm and feels the flesh give under his touch, the electric buzz under his fingers. “You have your sample. Get to work, Ziegler.”

She nods, eyes closed, moisture at the edges, but Jack is shimmering between his arms, dark tendrils evaporating in the air, so Gabriel brushes his thumb over pale cheek before sliding the mask down.

“I’m here.”

“Chacun de nous a ses propres monstres, médecin,” Widowmaker laughs at Angela as they leave.

Gabriel wants to say something as Genji takes a seat at the same table but fingers digging into his thigh stop him – he only stares.

“I thought this was a persona non grata space,” Jesse mutters, squinting over his coffee.

“I’d say, but there’s only one person that would command such a loyalty from the mangy coyote,” the cyborg chirpily offers.

“Good to see you again, Genji,” Jack greets him with a voice like rustling shavings, his clawed hand outstretched over the table. Genji takes it and shakes.

“Good to see you more alive than dead, commander,” the cybrog smiles.

They take off for Egypt, alone.

“The word is not out, that I’m no longer taking jobs for them. I don’t think they know it yet,” Jack laughs lightly. “Probably think I’m just on hiatus and fucked off to do whatever it is that I do in my own time.”

Gabriel wonders how is it possible he’s not burning inside all of this leather and then catches himself before he asks. It brings a smile to his lips. He pulls Jack for a kiss.

“Everything’s very crude,” Jack mutters with distaste over the radio. “Miracle if anyone shows up. At worst we could check up how’s Helix doing on their containment, maybe take a look inside.”

“And the bounty?”

“Of course nobody’s going to pay it out. Unless you’re scary enough.”

“Let’s wrap it up for today,” Gabriel shakes his head. In the sweltering heat he feels like he’s swimming in his gear, and the telltale shimmer behind is cut short by the sound of single shot ringing out over the courtyard.

“…up there,” Jack’s voice is a metallic rustle with his throat blown off by the force of impact. “Catch her.”

They sit in a little room overlooking the city. Ana regards them both warily.

“You want me to come back,” Jack hesitantly moves his mask back and smiles, corners of his mouth quivering anxiously. “Should have figured it was one of you. You both always had a flair for dramatics.” She chuckles and Jack’s smile gains conviction. “Got you both dying to finally get together.”

“I died. He just pretended.”

“Vous ne me blâmez pas pour cela, vieille fille.” Widowmaker observes, her golden eyes not leaving Ana for a second.

“No, Amelie.”

“Bien.” Both women relax. They shake hands tentatively.

“No, Ziegler, you’re not getting another sample,” Gabriel looks up at her. “You got one, you still have it.”

“I need a bigger one. I think I have…”

“You think. I told you once already,” he growls and seeing her shrink from him brings him minute satisfaction, “you’re not coming anywhere close to him unless you have a definite way to fix it or know how to kill him.”

“But the data…”

“No means no, Ziegler.” She slinks away. Jack’s shape solidifies by him.

“Kill him, huh? Not a bad idea,” he murmurs, head on Gabriel’s shoulder.

Widowmaker sits down with them, back rigid, head held high – McCree coughs choking on his toast.

“Beurre?” Genji offers her some.

“You, like, okay with that?” Jesse asks incredulously.

“As long as she doesn’t flirt with me.”

“Je n'ai pas de lecteur de sexe,” Amelie responds bluntly and Jack laughs. Gabriel smiles behind his cup at the sound.

“She said something about sex, what did she say?”

“Rien d'intéressant, imbecile.”

“Cibler dans le viseur,” Amelie’s steady voice rings out and everything turns sour few seconds later. There is only an aftershock – an echo of a thunder. “Sniper dans l'est. Bâtiment rouge. Toit.”

But all Gabriel can hear is a rising roar, and Jack is on the assailants, close and visceral, his silhouette disappearing and reforming from a black cloud of nanites, claws ripping flesh and something else from them, and, god, Gabriel will never grow accustomed to that thing Jack does that leaves bodies grey and frail, but in turn gives his skin a memory of color.

Another shot chips at the brick wall.

“Sniper est neutralisée. Amateur.” There’s a tinge of satisfaction in Amelie’s words, but all Gabriel can feel are Jack’s hands on him, shredding his jacket and armor, and the pressure from inside in his wound. All he can see is the face above him illuminated by a glow of the emitter. Somehow, he finds strength to bring his hand up and pull Jack closer for a kiss.

“Keep tight, luvs, Mercy’s on the way,” Lena hops by and Gabriel sighs at the contact lost when Jack startles away, looking at her. “Commander Morrison…?”

“Lâcher le morceau,” Amelie sounds more amused than she should be able to.

“You can do it. We can do it,” Gabriel rests fingers on Jack’s shoulder and his form stops wavering.

“If you say so, Commander,” Jack looks away as he takes a step into the corridor without his mask on.

Angela doesn’t show her face for a whole week.

It takes several months. Jack still manages to pull up inside information on Talon, even if he’s burned with them after that incident.

“I have my operatives, Commander. Remember the divide,” he chides when Gabriel asks.

They have the place. They have the date.

It’s Zurich.

“Bonne nuit, ma chérie,” Amelie whispers while pulling the trigger. Seconds pass and then Gerard’s head explodes in a shower of gore. Moment later another bullet, shot by Ana, collides with his chest. “Je suis libre.”

And then the charges detonate, bringing down the whole floor down.

There will be enough evidence left to shake the foundations of the UN. Enough for public to ask questions that will need answers.

There won’t be any evidence who carried out the strike.

“I remember you,” Jack smiles, awake, when Gabriel comes to. The words are plain, but mean much more.

Gabriel relaxes. They’re never going to be okay, but they will manage.

They are kept on payroll as ‘consultants’. Amelie spends her days reading and tending to the garden. Sombra sometimes brings her adopted daughters along. Jesse and Genji come to drink with Jack and swap stories. Lena comes for advice, age showing in the corners of her eyes.

And Gabriel, Gabriel remembers in the mornings that he said

yes

to a question asked by Jack.

#sometimes i write #word salad #reaper76week #day2 #r76 #reaper76 #amelie's a little shit #Jesse kind of plays matchmaker #shitty french from someone who had a lick ten years ago #an epic almost 4k drabble

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itsworn · 6 years

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MOPAR Monster – 1,000 Horsepower Factory 426 HEMI Crate Engine Unleashed at the 2018 SEMA Show #MTSEMA18

On the eve of Halloween at this year’s SEMA Show, Mopar unleashed the demonic, mother lode of all crate engines that will scare the living hell out their Motor City rivals. Aptly dubbed “Hellephant”, the new Mopar supercharged GEN III 426 cubic-inch HEMI monster will knock down 1,000 horsepower and 950 lb.-ft. of goliath stomping torque on 93-octane pump gas and for the Pentastar faithful, this crate motor checks all the right boxes. From its legendary cubic-inch displacement, all-new aluminum block, massive supercharger, and plug ‘n play electronics, many customers will be lining up to plunk down their cold hard cash to install this modern-world crate HEMI between the fenders of a ’68 Dodge Charger or ’71 Plymouth ‘Cuda.

The “Hellephant” 426 Supercharged Mopar Crate HEMI® Engine is a Mopar-first for a 1,000 horsepower crate engine kit offered by an Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM).

To create an engine of this magnitude, Mopar knew they’d have to start with new block, forged internals, and other non-assembly line components. The 1,000 horsepower number was the bogey Mopar’s engineers were shooting for, not just for bragging rights, but to fire a missile within the growing late-model HEMI aftermarket business that the gains more traction year after year. Besides, Mopar’s “Hellephant” is the first 1,000-horsepower crate engine kit offered by an OEM.

The man in charge of making the 1,000 horsepower Hellephant a reality is the head of Mopar Accessory and Performance Parts Portfolio, Todd Beddick. He can also claim the Mopar 392 HEMI and 6.2L Hellcat HEMI crate engines that were created under his watch, and many of the lessons he and the engineers learned were applied in developing this 1,000 horsepower behemoth.

“With the Mopar 345, 392 and “Hellcrate” 6.2 Supercharged Crate Engines and Crate HEMI Engine Kits, we were starting with production engines and production calibrations. With the Hellephant 426 Supercharged Mopar Crate HEMI Engine, we began from a much different starting point. We have been working on block development through our motorsports program, which served as the foundation for this project. The calibration started with a 6.2 supercharged base but required significant modification for this application,” said Beddick.

For Beddick and his merry band of Mopar maniacs, the “Hellephant” project didn’t happen overnight or on a whim. A lot of planning went into raising the bar for crate engines by offering insane horsepower on pump gas that’s perfectly streetable. That’s a daunting task, even for an OEM.

“It began about four years ago when we mapped the plan for the Mopar Crate HEMI engine family. A key for us was to bring an OEM “plug-and-play” solution to market for Gen III EFI HEMI engines. We started with the production-based engines, which we launched in 2016 and 2017, but the plan didn’t stop there. The next step was to mate the supercharger technology we were working on as a corporation with a 426 cubic-inch displacement engine to unleash another level of power output. Over time, that evolved into a horsepower target with four digits”, explained Beddick.

The first order of business was developing a lightweight but strong foundation to handle 1,000 horsepower and almost equal amount of torque without splitting its guts. That’s where the Mopar and SRT motorsports engineers collaborated on an aluminum block, similar to one used in Leah Pritchett’s 1300 horsepower Challenger Drag Pak that just won the NHRA Factory Stock Showdown.

“One of the biggest challenges was the aluminum block. Aluminum blocks have been part of the Mopar portfolio before, but they were not designed for this level of power output, so we needed something more robust. That’s where we looked to the expertise of our SRT Motorsports colleagues and developed a block that could handle the stresses of 1,000-plus horsepower applications,” commented Beddick.

Here’s where racing the supercharged HEMI Challenger Drag Paks relentlessly with their aluminum blocks for 12-16 months came in handy. Mopar and SRT engineers applied what they had learned regarding the type of stress the new 426 Crate HEMI would need to endure and made some slight revisions.

“The ribbing in the lifter valley of the block was added, along with additional material at the base of the bores and through the bulkheads. The casting process is also greatly improved to manage core shift,” said Ed Hessell, one of the Mopar engineers assigned to the “Hellephant” project.

During testing, the Mopar engineers ran the 426 Crate HEMI relentlessly on the dyno with pull after pull. When the magic 1000-horsepower number popped up on the dyno’s graph, Mopar had long-tube headers bolted on the engine. Don’t worry, though, their engineers did the final calibration on prototype 2-inch SRT manifolds and used those in the mule vehicle when running drivability studies.

Next was to find a supercharger that could deliver the boost levels needed to achieve the mammoth 1,000 horsepower number while meeting the stringent durability testing Mopar and SRT use on production engines. Rather go outside, Mopar tapped into OEM supercharger supplier, IHI. These are same folks whose blowers sit on top the 6.2-liter HEMI Demons, Redeyes, and Hellcats. Since this was a proven piece, the production powertrain engineers and Mopar bumped the blower’s displacement to 3.0-liters and a high-efficiency rotor was used to combat the additional heat.

For comparison, the 2018 Challenger Demon and 2019 Challenger Redeye uses a 2.7-liter blower and the Hellcat (and Mopar Hellcrate) has 2.4-liter unit. By comparison, the 426 “Hellephant” crate engine’s 3.0- liter supercharger is moving a lot more air than its fellow blown siblings. With recorded boost levels of 10-11 psi on stock 6.2-liter, 707 horse Hellcat HEMI power plants, and 14.5 psi on Demon and Redeye engines with the stock 797-808 horsepower pump gas tune, we imagine “Hellephant’s” boost levels are north of 15 psi to achieve the 1,000 horsepower rating.

Along with working with production suppliers to help reduce cost and speed to market, the new 426 Crate HEMI will use the stock 92mm throttle body borrowed from the Demon. Mopar also used the stock production cylinder heads straight from the Demon. The production valves, springs, and retainers are up to the task as with they were over-engineered from the beginning. Production valve covers were borrowed from the Hellcat and make the 426 look less sinister and more like a stocker.

Moving the valves is a custom-ground hydraulic roller camshaft from Comp Cams that uses Demon cam cores. Mopar was tight lipped on the actual lift and duration specs but we’ll get more details from them prior to the first batch of “Hellephant” 426 Crate HEMI Engines being built early next year.

When it came to the bottom end and the rotating assembly is where Mopar enlisted the help of the aftermarket. Even though the tire shredding 840 horsepower Demon uses a forged crankshaft, powered forged connecting rods, and forged pistons, those pieces had to be swapped out for a rotating assembly that had a bit more strength and offered increased displacement for the “Hellephant’s” 426 cubes vs. the Demons 376. The 426 has a 104.7mm bore and 101.6mm stroke compared to the Demon/Hellcat’s 103.9mm bore and 90.9mm stroke. The “Hellephant” 426 supercharged HEMI crate engine will have all forged internals including special H-Beam connecting rods, and unique pistons that bring the compression ratio around 9.5:1.

The complete engine assembly includes nearly everything you’ll need to install it into a vehicle, including the water pump, flywheel, front sump oil pan, fuel injectors and coil packs. They also come with a Mopar Front End Accessory Drive (FEAD) Kit, which includes an alternator, power-steering pump, belts, pulleys and more.

Dropping in the “Hellephant” is almost turnkey with the “Hellephant” 426 Supercharged Mopar Crate HEMI® Engine Kit. The kit includes a powertrain control module (PCM), power distribution center, engine wiring harness, chassis harness, accelerator pedal, ground jumper, oxygen sensors, charge air temperature sensors, fuel pump control module and cam bus interface device.

Other goodies include such plug-and-play parts such as the powertrain control module (PCM), power distribution center, engine wiring harness, chassis harness, accelerator pedal, ground jumper, oxygen sensors, charge air temperature sensors, fuel pump control module and cam bus interface device. Enthusiasts will be pleased to note that the Mopar PCM is unlocked and tuned to pump out the 1000 horsepower, and we’re sure there’s a back door for additional calibration capabilities. Mopar may have designed the kit for installation into pre-1976 street and off-road vehicles, but you know someone with a tired and worn out ten-year-old Challenger or Charger SRT8 will drop in the new 426 supercharged HEMI crate engine.

It may seem like a daunting task but remember, the GEN III HEMI has been around for 15 years or so, and there’s a whole network of suppliers making everything from motor mounts to headers for installing the modern HEMI into vintage cars. Late-model guys have also figured out how to install the current Hellcat engines into RAM trucks and even Jeep Wranglers so the code for electronics interface has been cracked. Regardless, Mopar has done their homework and will provide in-depth information/installation instructions so driveway mechanics or professional installers should have no issues dropping this killer engine into their rides.

The 1968 Dodge “Super Charger” Charger Concept incorporates modern touches, including the new 1,000 horsepower “Hellephant” 426 Supercharged Mopar Crate HEMI® Engine, shown in background, to reimagine one of the most iconic vehicles ever built by FCA US.

Speaking of what platform to showcase Mopar’s monstrous 1000 horse 426 HEMI Crate Engine into, the guys in the FCA Product Design Office styling studios have created a 1968 Dodge Charger of epic proportions and have aptly named it “Super Charger.” Painted in what the Mopar calls “De Grigio” Grey Metallic, the Super Charger pays homage to the 50th anniversary of the GEN II Charger body style that jumped city streets and was the car of choice among pop-cultures most evil characters. Look for a full-blown feature on Mopar’s Super Charger in an upcoming issue of HOT ROD.

The “Hellephant” 426 Supercharged Mopar Crate HEMI engine assembly and kit will be available in the first quarter of 2019, but if you click on the video link you can hear it scream now.

The post MOPAR Monster – 1,000 Horsepower Factory 426 HEMI Crate Engine Unleashed at the 2018 SEMA Show #MTSEMA18 appeared first on Hot Rod Network.

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Armchair Analyst: Frontrunners, the Pack & all 23 MLS teams by tier

February 28, 20181:17PM EST

With a tip of the cap to the great Zach Lowe, here’s my own version of his “Annual Tiers of the NBA” column, MLS-style. What follows are not hard-and-fast Power Rankings, per se, but rather something a little more loose in terms of talent level, cohesion, chemistry and all the et ceteras that make teams tick (or make them awful).

These teams are mostly in the order I think they’ll finish, but what really matters is the tier designation.

TIER I: COME AT THE KING

Toronto FC

Last year I picked TFC first, talked about how Sebastian Giovinco and Jozy Altidore were the league’s best forward pair, and how Victor Vazquez would provide the third heat in attack to make them damn near unbeatable. I worried a bit about the defense if Drew Moor got hurt, but they survived – even thrived – when he missed a chunk of time early in the season. They managed when Altidore and Michael Bradley were on international duty, and they managed with Giovinco never really playing at more than 75 percent of what he’d been in 2015 and most of 2016.

Everything went right. Alex Bono established himself as a top MLS ‘keeper, and Chris Mavinga was arguably the league’s best center back for the second half of the season. They found depth at both fullback positions, and bring almost all of it back (including what appears to be an on-paper upgrade at right fullback/wingback).

They’re also going to be a touch more flexible with their formation this year. I think it’s safe to say they won the Canadian Championship and Supporters’ Shield playing a 3-5-2, but then clowned Seattle in MLS Cup playing a 4-4-2 diamond. Greg Vanney has proved to be one of the very best coaches in the league at making tactical adjustments based upon both his own personnel and on-field match-ups.

My only worry is if Justin Morrow – who’s 30, and is closing in on 20,000 minutes – gets hurt/goes missing. Last year they had Raheem Edwards, who put up 1g/8a in 1300 minutes across all competitions, which is an insane level of productivity for a left back/wingback (and he did it in big moments, too). But “oh man we no longer have a game-changing reserve left back” is such a first world problem, even in the TAM era, that it’s not worth getting hung up on.

TFC are the favorites by a mile.

WEEK 1 LINEUP

NOTE: This might get a little squirrelly given their midweek CCL duties. Also, don’t be shocked if they break out the 3-5-2 just to mess with Columbus.

TIER II: TOP CONTENDERS

Seattle Sounders

Was Nicolas Lodeiro the same player in 2017 that he’d been in 2016? Was Osvaldo Alonso? Was Jordan Morris?

The answer across the board was “no,” but Seattle were pretty clearly the best team in the Western Conference anyway. I know they didn’t prove it in the regular season, but come on – there wasn’t much doubt. And then they absolutely waltzed through the playoffs before getting clowned by the Reds.

The fact that they survived those individual drop-offs but still did what they did is indicative of the level of depth this team was able to cobble together. With Ozzie out, Gustav Svensson stepped up. With Morris hurt (and he’ll be hurt again, unfortunately), Will Bruin found the range. Clint Dempsey came back healthy and had a good-if-not-great season, Cristian Roldan continued his evolution into a very complete No. 8, and the fullbacks were constantly productive.

First and foremost, though, this team was about the center back pairing of Chad Marshall and Roman Torres, and I expect that to be the case again. Here’s the problem, though: By mid-season, those guys will be a combined 66 years old, and there still isn’t a high-upside replacement behind either of them. If one or the other goes missing, the Sounders struggle – which they’ve showed in CCL action already. Garth Lagerwey needs to address that in the next few weeks.

EDIT: He addressed that literally as I was writing this column. The Sounders officially signed South Korean international CB Kim Kee-Hee on Tuesday evening. He will, I’m guessing, eventually be a starter.

This team will play mostly a 4-2-3-1 again (though we might see some diamond), and will be mostly very good again. I don’t think they’re too old to challenge at the very top of the league, but it feels very much like the last dance for a group of guys that’s won every domestic title available to the over the previous three seasons.

WEEK 1 LINEUP

NOTE: As with TFC, this might go a little sideways given the midweek CCL game. Also, bear in mind that I’ve got Magnus Wolff Eikrem out of position here, but this remains my best guess.

New York City FC

At this point you know they’ll build from the back at all costs, you know they’ll play that 4-3-3 almost every time out, and you know that they’re going to press higher and harder than they did when Patrick Vieira first took over in 2016. NYCFC have transformed from an old and slow group to one of the youngest and most athletic teams in the league, but obviously one that prioritizes skill over everything else.

They’ve also gone out and prioritized depth this offseason, which makes sense given how their goalscoring dried up down the stretch as the likes of Jack Harrison and Rodney Wallace faded (I still think Vieira made a mistake by not getting more minutes for Jonathan Lewis). They’re two deep at every spot on the field, and if TFC slip in the regular season – which often happens to defending champs, especially ones determined to make lengthy CCL runs – NYCFC are my pick to pip them in the Shield race.

The one big concern? There is simply no replacing David Vila from what I’ve seen or can imagine. When Giovinco goes down the Reds either slot in Tosaint Ricketts to be a field-stretching striker or bottle up into a 5-4-1, and they’ve won their share of games both ways. When Villa goes down, the Cityzens… lose. They just lose.

Maybe Norwegian international Jo Inge Berget, signed this offseason, can change that. But A) he’s already hurt, and B) isn’t that much of a goalscorer. Villa has to fight off Father Time for one more season.

WEEK 1 LINEUP

NOTE: Expect Rodney Wallace and new Young DP Jesus Medina to swap sides quite a bit.

Atlanta United

In 2017 Atlanta United had the third-best expansion season in league history, behind only the 1998 Chicago Fire and 2009 Seattle Sounders (both of whom won trophies, which is an open-and-shut argument for their superiority). They did so with relentless pressure from front-to-back, dynamic wing play, a much-better-than-I-expected-it-to-be defense, and superhuman finishing from Josef Martinez.

Pretty much all of that is back and has arguably been upgraded. I’ll admit some doubt about Ezequiel Barco being better than Yamil Asad was (ED NOTE: Barco will be out 4-6 weeks after suffering in training Wednesday), but am buying plenty of Franco Escobar stock at right back. I also expect big steps forward from second-year youngsters Andrew Carleton, who was sublime in preseason and at the U-17 World Cup, and Miles Robinson, who could end up giving the backline the dose of athleticism it lacked at times in Year 1.

There is depth and creativity and chemistry and knowhow and, look, I’ve gotta say it: There’s a big old hole in central midfield where Carlos Carmona was. The Chilean vet is gone and in his stead is Darlington Nagbe, who is a much different player. Nagbe will at times make the attack prettier, and along with Barco will be an off-the-dribble weapon the team lacked last season. He brings stuff to the table.

I worry about what he takes off the table, though. Carmona was masterful at making it miserable to receive a pass in midfield, and his distribution was both clean and early. Nagbe is not that kind of defensive presence, and while his distribution is the cleanest in the league it is almost never early. He plays at a different pace, and it showed in preseason. Add in 34-year-old Jeff Larentowicz inching close toward the light, and I’m officially a little bit worried about central midfield for the Five Stripes. They’ll still be good if those guys struggle, but that could/will be the difference between “good” and “great.”

Also, don’t expect Martinez to finish at superhuman rates again. He’s still a good bet for the Golden Boot, but if he slows down to even that lofty level we’ll see Atlanta playing from even or behind more often, and that could give this year a whole different kind of feel.

WEEK 1 LINEUP

NOTE: I’m not sure that this backline is what I think it is. Tata Martino has been using Larentowicz in Parkhurst’s place, which is… weird.

TIER III: PLAYOFF RACE (AND MAYBE MORE)

I’ve spilled so much ink on this team over the last eight months, so I’ll just say it one more time: What happened last year – the mid-season collapse – was unprecedented in MLS history. Never has such a good team become such a bad team so fast.

Instead of blowing it all up they decided to move out a couple of players, move in a few others, and move up a few more beyond that. Reggie Cannon’s the starter at right back now, and Paxton Pomykal should get meaningful minutes at a couple of midfield spots. Jacori Hayes will as well, and rookie Homegrown Jordan Cano could end up getting some real run. FCD are re-embracing their #PlayYourKids ethos.

At the same time, they went out and spent this winter like they never have before, both on the backline (Reto Ziegler and Anton Nedyalkov) and in attack (DP forward/winger Santiago Mosquera). Add in a healthy-and-balling Mauro Diaz, and a hopefully locked-in Maxi Urruti, and there is, hopefully, enough to pull this talented group back up toward the top of the standings.

But let’s face it: Last year’s collapse wasn’t about talent. It was about chemistry. Something broke inside the Dallas clubhouse, and beyond anything else, fixing that has to be Oscar Pareja’s concern.

My guess is he manages it.

WEEK 1 LINEUP

NOTE: This is not their first XI, and there’s a chance I’m being too optimistic about Pomykal and Cano in particular. But I just can’t see Pareja going with the starters on short rest in Week 1. Let Diaz ease into the season, keep him healthy, and give the kids a big of run.

Portland Timbers

For the first time in five years the Timbers enter an MLS season with a new head coach, and given Gio Savarese’s credentials it’s probably justifiable for Portlanders to be hyped. The man hasn’t done it in the top flight yet, but he’s won and managed big egos and handled locker room strife and speaks three languages and has played in the CONMEBOL World Cup qualifying meat grinder and and and and…

Savarese’s got impeccable credentials. I think he was a great hire, and the fact that he’s inheriting a team that won the (regular season) Western Conference – then added a bunch of quality-on-paper pieces to that group – suggests Portland should compete at the top of the conference again even if Diego Valeri becomes something less than the MVP. Samuel Armenteros has been especially prolific in preseason, and there’s also young depth (which Savarese will actually be willing to develop and use, if his track record is any indication) pretty much everywhere.

That all makes me high on the Timbers. But not so high that I can overlook two things.

The preferred CB combo is old, slow and injury prone.

What’s the right formation for these guys?

Liam Ridgewell and Larrys Mabiala played well together last season, but how many “together” minutes will they manage in 2018? And while I’ll happily hit “buy” at every other position’s depth chart, I’m giving center back the old side eye until I see what Julio Cascante can really do. And by the by, there’s no longer “Prime Diego Chara” in front of this group to chew up the field protecting them (his age, foot injury and lack of playing time in the preseason worries me).

So they’ve looked vulnerable, for the most part, throughout February. The times they haven’t looked vulnerable have been when swapping out of the tried-and-true 4-2-3-1 that Portland have played for 95 percent of the time since 2013 and into either a 4-4-2 diamond or a 4-1-4-1.

I’m not sure results matter that much in the preseason, but the eye test matters. Especially when you have new players, a new coach and the same old high expectations.

WEEK 1 LINEUP

NOTE: Kiiiinda just making this up to be honest. Only thing I know for sure is there’ll be four at the back.

Columbus Crew SC

Speaking of preseason results maybe not mattering… Columbus are going to desperately hope they in fact do matter, because they looked like a juggernaut over the past six weeks. Federico Higuain was at his “float around the field and control the entire shape of the game” best, the wingers were livewire and occasionally productive, 19-year-old left back Milton Valenzuela is the best young DP in this league that you’ve never heard of, Wil Trapp + Artur = HELL YES, and Gyasi Zardes is out there slotting home tap-ins like it’s 2014.

It is entirely possible that I’m overreacting to their late-season form and playoff run, as well as what they did in preseason. The defense still has the look of a group entirely capable of catastrophe, there’s probably not as much depth at fullback anymore, Higuain’s entering his mid-30s, and Justin Meram is gone. Beyond that it’s just hard to talk yourself into Zardes being as consistently productive as Ola Kamara (also gone) was.

Except… maybe? Kamara’s success was a product of his instincts and skill, but also of the system. Columbus are a big chance-generating juggernaut and have been for four years under Gregg Berhalter, and Zardes has shown an ability in the past to convert those into goals. So much of Crew SC’s potential relies upon him rediscovering that, but I’m a big “system first” guy and thus I’m gonna choose to believe in this Columbus group.

They’re not favorites. They don’t have a good enough defense or enough proven attackers to be that. But they’ve shown repeatedly that they know how to win, and they’ll obviously be playing with some extra motivation in 2018.

WEEK 1 LINEUP

NOTE: The wings will swap a ton.

Sporting KC

Speaking of “system first,” let’s go back to the banks of the Missouri River. If Columbus are the pre-eminent example of an attacking system in MLS, then SKC are the pre-eminent example of a defensive system in MLS. No matter who they trot out there, no matter how many years in a row, they lead the league in fewest expected goals allowed, fewest chances generated from Zone 14, most turnovers forced in their own attacking third and most misery inflicted upon their opponents.

Sporting play hard and fast and will continue to do so for as long as Peter Vermes draws breath.

The problem is twofold. First is that playing hard and fast every single game out has taken the mickey out of this group come August in each of the last four seasons. Vermes has to either A) become more comfortable rotating the squad to keep his most important pieces fresh, or B) figure out a different way to play from time-to-time (not gonna bet on that happening).

Second is that nobody scores, man. In 2017 they underperformed their expected goals for the fourth straight season, and for the second straight year they did so massively. And instead of bringing in a high-profile center forward, Vermes & Co. decided to roll the dice on Diego Rubio again.

Rubio’s a nice player and the underlying numbers like him, but that’s the point: The underlying numbers have loved SKC the last four years, but they keep coming up short. Add in a high-risk swap of playmakers from Benny Feilhaber to the underwhelming-in-preseason Yohan Croizet, and you’ve got potential for major problems.

The defense should still be good enough, but even that is a risk – will Ike Opara play another full, healthy season? Will age and miles catch up to Matt Besler and Graham Zusi? Cristian Lobato at left back? Really? Gonna do that with a team who had five one-goal wins and 13 draws while getting a blinder of a season from Tim Melia last year?

If not for The System™, I’d have this team two tiers lower than I do. But I’ve got to trust it because it’s worked so well for so long.

WEEK 1 LINEUP

NOTE: Pretty pretty sure that’s gonna be it.

Orlando City SC

Every year there’s at least one team that crawls up from below the playoff line into something approaching “contender” status. Sometimes you see it coming, as with Toronto in 2016. Other times it’s pretty well concocted out of the blue, as with Houston last year.

If it happens for Orlando City, it’ll be more toward the “TFC, 2016” side of the ledger. The Purple Lions have spent up and down the roster, using TAM and GAM, DP slots and the SuperDraft, Homegrowns and NASL and USL and a commitment to kicking over every rock and digging up any/every piece of talent possible, and then (hopefully) making them fit. Even if it doesn’t work out for them I love what they did this offseason because they committed in equal measure to getting guys in their prime, and getting youngsters on the come-up.

So they are now both more experienced and younger than ever before. The kids will have to fight to get on the field, and the veterans will have to fight to keep their spots. It’s pretty much exactly how I would build a team if somebody offered me a GM job.

Could all the bad things happen and Orlando City miss the playoffs? Yes, of course. There’s no guarantee there will be any chemistry with this many new arrivals, there’s no guarantee the kids will be good (though I’m betting heavy on all four of Chris Mueller, Josue Colman, Cam Lindley and Pierre da Silva), injuries have traditionally ravaged this club, I’m slightly worried about their finishing, and they need another CB.

But this was a magnificent job by the Orlando City front office. Jason Kreis, the ball’s now in your court.

WEEK 1 LINEUP

NOTE: The Lions haven’t been publishing their lineups this preseason, so some of these are guesses. Bear in mind that Sacha Kljestan’s suspended, Dom Dwyer’s hurt and Uri Rosell just stepped off a plane. Once those guys are back they’re the presumptive starters – though given this team’s depth, they’ll have to earn it.

TIER IV: DARK HORSES

New York Red Bulls

I’m maybe being a little bit naive here in that I’m not super concerned about the RBNY defense. Yes, Aurelien Collin is closer to the end than the beginning, but 1) I don’t think he’ll be asked to play every single minute, and 2) I believe in Jesse Marsch’s ability to coach young players up. We’ve seen him do it with young midfielders a bunch, and with young defenders to the on-field and financial benefit of the whole franchise. Can Tommy Redding be the next Aaron Long or even Matt Miazga? Could Fidel Escobar or Michael Amir Murillo or Hassan Ndam? At least one of them will push through, and RBNY will be fine on the backline, fine in goal, and fine (or better, depending upon how Tyler Adams develops) at d-mid.

The question, really, is in attack. RBNY shipped out Sacha Kljestan and for as long as Marsch has been the boss in Harrison his team has been helpless when Kljestan’s been off the field. I get it, though – they replaced Kljestan with Alejandro Romero “Kaku” Gamarra, a 22-year-old, high-priced import from the Argentine Primera. Kaku was legitimately one of the most productive chance creators in that league, and unlike Kljestan he is a goal threat himself. The Red Bulls got younger and, they’re guessing, better. They’ll also likely be more comfortable toggling between the 3-3-3-1 they used to such good effect last year, to the 4-2-3-1 they used in 2015 and 2016, to the 4-2-2-2 they’ve toyed with at times in the past.

If all of the above is the case, if they’re indeed both better and more flexible, they will be one of the best teams in the league. That is a massive “if,” however.

OPENING LINEUP

NOTE: Another bald-faced guess. But I figure they’ve started out the last couple of years in the 4-2-2-2, so why not make it three in a row?

Real Salt Lake

Is it still appropriate to call this team a dark horse? RSL were pretty obviously one of the two best teams in the Western Conference over the last four months, with only a historically bad start to the season keeping them out of the playoffs. They then followed that up with a productive offseason, adding pieces at spots (right back, central midfield and especially center forward) that were occasionally problematic last season, and the trajectory of their kids over the past 18 months suggests that the best is yet to come.

Bear in mind: This can go wrong. We’ve already seen Danny Acosta lose out on the starting LB job to 34-year-old veteran Demar Phillips, which isn’t a great sign, and we saw what happened to the defense last year when Justen Glad wasn’t around. Can he play 2800 minutes or so? He probably needs to.

Phillips, by the way, would only be the third-oldest starter, behind Kyle Beckerman and Nick Rimando. They’re not going to stay young forever. And while a lot of smart folks like new striker Alfredo Ortuño, he’s never really put it together for a full season, has he?

So yeah, it can go wrong. I don’t think it will, though. The RSL team we saw in the second half of 2017 is the one I expect we’ll see in 2018, and if that’s the case they’ll make their way to the top of the West.

WEEK 1 LINEUP

NOTE: This one looks pretty well locked in at this point. Your move, Danny Acosta.

TIER V: PROVE IT AGAIN

Vancouver Whitecaps

I didn’t have the ‘Caps up near the playoffs ahead of last year. I’m not going to make that same mistake twice, but at the same time I’m not expecting them to spend most of the season in the top three of the West once again. There’s just too much turnover year-to-year, not enough top-end talent and probably not enough diversity in attack. Vancouver were pure bunker-and-counter in 2017 and while that took them to the Western Conference Semifinals, it also led to them putting in one of the most feeble attacking performances over two legs in league history.

Have they gotten better in the offseason? Well, Kei Kamara’s probably not an upgrade over Fredy Montero in terms of raw talent, but he’s a better fit at center forward as long as age doesn’t catch up to him. The other big addition was veteran Mexican international Efrain Juarez, who’s probably spent 85 percent of his career at a defender but will be slotted into central midfield instead (Carl Robinson loves switching up his central midfielders all the time, and I’ll admit I don’t get it).

My big worry? Tim Parker seems to want out and given how many moves Vancouver’s made for young-ish center backs this offseason, it looks like he’ll get it. Parker and Kendall Waston were one of the most solid CB combos in the league over the past two years.

My big hope? Alphonso Davies just starts roasting fools. The 17-year-old was magnificent at last year’s Gold Cup and magnificent in this year’s preseason. If he’s not a Day 1 starter I will riot.

WEEK 1 LINEUP

NOTE: There was talk about a 3-5-2 in preseason, but it looks like back to the 4-2-3-1 that might be more of a 4-4-1-1. Not sure Aly Ghazal will be available from the start.

San Jose Earthquakes

If not for their California neighbors the Quakes would easily win the “Largest Gap Between Your Ceiling and Your Floor” award, which is pretty much exactly what you’d expect of a team that A) made the playoffs, with B) the 19th-best goal differential (-21) in MLS last year. When they were good they were really pretty good – pinging the ball around, combining nicely through midfield, generating quality chances – and when they were bad they got pounded all to hell and lost 5-0. It was uncanny.

I don’t think this team will have such wild swings in 2018. New head coach Mikael Stahre has a reputation as a solid defensive coach, and he has actual defenders he can use this year (while pushing Florian Jungwirth up to his natural d-mid slot). How those defenders will do is something of a mystery as there will be three new starters on the backline, but it looks like it should work.

The attack should work as well even as Chris Wondolowski heads into his final chapter. Stahre has a couple of goalscoring wingers to call on, Danny Hoesen is an under-the-radar pick for a big year at center forward, and this will finally be Tommy Thompson’s break-out year, I swear it!

I really do think the Quakes will be solid or better. I’m just not super eager to bet my life on it.

WEEK 1 LINEUP

NOTE: I’ll be surprised if I don’t get this one spot on.

ED. NOTE (BAER): Doyle’s wrong, Shea Salinas is going to start at left back.

Houston Dynamo

If tell me you thought, in 2017, that a backline prominently featuring Leonardo and 400-year-old DaMarcus Beasley would produce a playoff-caliber defense, I’m calling you a liar. Houston snuck on pretty much everybody last year pretty much all over the field. Yes, their attackers got most of the glory – they were fun and fast and attackers always get the glory – and yes, that midfield was way better than you think when they had everybody healthy.

But look at how that defense performed, both by the numbers and the eye test. The Dynamo were very good at the back, never gave up cheap goals, and played deep into November because of it. “First do no harm” was the mantra they lived by and it worked.

Teams across the league have tape of that now, and that worries me at least a little bit. Remember how Colorado overperformed in 2016 then came crashing down to reality in 2017? I don’t it’s going to happen quite so dramatically for the Dynamo, but I’m not emotionally capable of ruling it out.

Houston are, relatively speaking, both old and shallow, and adding “scouted” on top of that has me skeptical of their ability to recapture 2017’s magic in 2018. If they manage it, it’ll be because they’ll have added a new wrinkle – maybe they press high, or Tomas Martinez proves to be an elite chance creator from possession, or maybe something totally from out of left field.

I just don’t know what to expect here.

WEEK 1 LINEUP

NOTE: Martinez is suspended for the opener.

Chicago Fire

Chicago finally climbed their way into the playoffs – and all the way up to third place in the Supporters’ Shield standings – after years of dormancy. It was a very nice and long-awaited bounce-back for a franchise that’s mostly had a miserable decade.

They’ve followed that up with a strangely quiet offseason. The biggest news was the egress of David Accam, who was traded to Philly for a sack of GAM and TAM. It makes sense, then, that the biggest acquisition of the offseason was a winger, Serb Aleksandar Katai. He’s not Accam’s direct replacement (Accam is an inverted left winger, while Katai is an inverted right winger), but he’ll theoretically serve the same purpose once the ball is kicked: lots of goals and a little bit of playmaking.

As it stands now, though, it looks like the Fire are betting large on a cadre of youngsters. Homegrown rookie Grant Lillard maybe has the inside track on the starting job at left center back, and draft pick Jon Bakero, the 2017 Hermann Award winner, is maybe probably perhaps gonna be the playmaker this team’s fans have wanted for nearly a decade? Both guys are excellent. I love Bakero and if you like pretty soccer, you should too. But it’s a weird gamble for a team whose most important players (Bastian Schweinsteiger, Nemanja Nikolic and Dax McCarty) are all over 30.

If Lillard and Bakero and Daniel Johnson are as good as I think they can be, Chicago will have improved. If they’re not – and bear in mind I’ve been wrong maybe twice before in my entire life, so it’s possible here – they’re in trouble.

OPENING LINEUP

NOTE: Maybe Christian Dean instead of Lillard since Lillard’s nursing a slight knock? Also, the Fire don’t play their first game until Week 2, so things can change a little bit.

TIER VI: OPEN QUESTIONS

D.C. United

The big question heading into 2017 for D.C. was “Was that real?” with “that” being the 3-month buzzsaw of an attack they generated at the tail end of the 2016 season. United scored more than two-and-a-half goals per game, pushed their way up to third place in the standings, and looked for all the world like a young(ish) team on the come up.

Then Patrick Mullins got hurt, Patrick Nyarko got hurt, and Marcelo Sarvas and Lloyd Sam got old. D.C. got shutout 17 times in 34 games. In the final three months (13 games) of 2016, they scored 33 goals. In all of 2017, they scored 31.

Mullins is back, battling with Darren Mattocks for the starting No. 9 job, but the rest of those guys are gone as the United braintrust have looked for younger and hopefully more durable players. Head coach Ben Olsen has a surfeit of attacking midfielders and wingers to pick from, and most of them are proven internationally, proven in MLS, or both. Add in an 18-year-old potential stud of a d-mid in Chris Durkin, and there’s reason to think this team can become something close to what they were 18 months ago.

There is worry at the back, though. Last year’s defense was as bad as the attack, and their one saving grace – Bill Hamid – is gone. David Ousted is an above-average MLS ‘keeper, but he’s no Hamid. The guys in front of him (most notably Steve Birnbaum) need to be better than they were last year, and they have to become so while playing 14 of their first 16 on the road.

It feels like this team should be bad. But it felt that way in the middle of 2016 as well, and we know what happened then.

WEEK 1 LINEUP

NOTE: Lucho Acosta is suspended for the opener. When he’s back, expect Ben Olsen to toy around with a 4-1-4-1 if either Canouse or Moreno show they can handle the job of being a lone d-mid.

It feels like this team should be good. But it felt that way – at least a little bit – at the start of 2017, and we know what happened then. LA had the worst year in franchise history, people lost their jobs, the locker room atmosphere was reportedly poisonous and suddenly there was a crisis in Carson.

The offseason has been mostly wonderful, though. Sigi Schmid took care of most of the family business, jettisoning (most of the) bad contracts and bringing in what appear to be quality players at a number of important spots. Ola Kamara gets goals, right? Perry Kitchen protects the backline, ok? David Bingham can recapture the form that had him on the periphery of the USMNT, maybe? All of this makes sense, and even if these guys are poor, that’s still a major step up from what the Galaxy had at those three positions last season.

But woof, I will admit some worry as to this team’s ability to defend based upon what I saw this preseason. Jonathan dos Santos looked like he was running in mud when trying to track Tommy Thompson, and just look at how poor Michael Ciani’s reaction is here. Those two guys have struggled a ton in preseason, and new presumptive starting right back Rolf Feltscher hasn’t inspired confidence, either.

Schmid might have to do some early-season damage control before this team, which is talented as hell, gets pointed in the right direction. And as we saw last year, sometimes damage control isn’t enough.

WEEK 1 LINEUP

NOTE: Why yes, I too would attack the right side of that defense.

Montreal Impact

The Impact finally decided to get younger, which is something the fans have been waiting on for a while. They could end up with as many as seven starters aged 25 or younger, and two of them – box-to-box midfielder Saphir Taïder and attacking midfielder Jeisson Vargas – are supposed to be legitimate stars. There’s also a distinctly Canadian flair to this group, with Raheem Edwards, Samuel Piette, Michael Petrasso and Anthony Jackson-Hamel all expected to play big roles.

So that makes this a season unlike almost any other in Impact history. This team’s been addicted to, let’s call it “experience” since Day 1, and now they’ve turned that page. And that, of course, makes them hard to predict.

There are also the elephant in the room: Ignacio Piatti’s age. The league’s best winger for three years running just turned 33, and while that’s not the very end he’s clearly operating on a different timeline than the bulk of this roster. If this were any other league in almost any other sport, there’d be serious talk about flipping him to a top-tier contender in exchange for a collection of other assets (money, younger players, Homegrown rights, etc.).

Business-wise, MLS hasn’t really grown into that sort of league just yet. But new manager Remi Garde was happy enough to trade Laurent Ciman (and then land a few verbal jabs on him) this offseason, so it’s not out of the question that the same could happen with Piatti. What if, say, the Fire offer up all their Accam cash and a good young player sometime in the next month? Garde doesn’t slam the phone down, right?

It’s something to think about here.

WEEK 1 LINEUP

NOTE: I don’t think Vargas is going to start in Week 1, but what do I know, really?

ED. NOTE (BAER): Expect to see Raitala at center back and Daniel Lovitz at left back with Zakaria Diallo out.

New England Revolution

Based upon preseason, here’s one thing that appears to have definitely changed for the Revs: They will not be taking plays off. This very gifted group of technical players have had a habit, over the years, or tuning out for big chunks of matches. Sometimes that came in the beginning of games, and sometimes in the middle. Last year, however, it more and more took place at the end, and thus New England were probably the league’s most disappointing second half team in 2017.

I don’t think that will be the case this year. New head coach Brad Friedel has them getting “stuck in,” for lack of a better term, from minutes 1-through-90. It’s bordered on vicious at times, which is something the Revs really haven’t been for most of this decade.

Now, “hard tackling” is not an adequate substitute for “well coached” or “tactically astute” or even “prepared.” I don’t know if the Revs will be any of those things, and the Lee Nguyen saga virtually guarantees they will be a less dangerous team moving forward than they’ve been for the last five seasons unless – say it with me, now – this is the year that Juan Agudelofinally breaks through. There are a million-and-one questions, which is rare for a team that’s brought so many pieces back.

So I don’t know what to tell you here. New England’s a big old mystery.

WEEK 1 LINEUP

NOTE: Kind of throwing a dart for my pick at right wing. The rest of it I’m pretty sure of.

Colorado Rapids

I’ve spilled a lot of ink on this already, but I’ll say it one more time here: In this league, pretty much everyone has started to look to Latin America and to within, via academies, for their roster needs. We saw it all offseason as everyone from Orlando to Vancouver, from LA to Montreal and pretty much every stop in between raided leagues south of the border – and mostly south of the Panama Canal – with suitcases of TAM and GAM and DP slot.

They zigged. The Rapids zagged.

Everyone else is getting more Hispanic while Colorado have decided to get more northern European. They brought in Englishman Anthony Hudson as head coach, signed players out of the Championship and Scottish Premier League and Sweden and Germany, and are pretty obviously building a “stout at the back, kill ’em on the counter” group.

It’s not what I’d do, but at least it’s a plan. At least it’s a system and an ethos, with the idea that “Part A will function in this way because we want Parts B and C to function in these other ways.” I’m not sure that Colorado have really had that since 2013.

Who will be their best player? Ask again later. Who’s going to be their leading scorer? Honestly, you’ve got me there. Can they make the altitude work to their advantage? Let to tell you, I’m stumped. Will any of the young guys improve? No idea. Does Tim Howard have anything left in the tank? Um… I don’t want to answer that one.

I don’t expect much from the Rapids except no-frills, solid defense. As they showed in 2016, sometimes that’s enough. (But usually it’s not).

OPENER LINEUP

NOTE: Maybe the only predominantly 5-3-2 team in the league this year?

Philadelphia Union

The Philadelphia Union have been promising two things over the past several years: A true No. 10 and a youth movement. They’ve more or less failed to deliver on both promises, but – my goodness, my goodness – it looks like 2018 is the year that they’re going to deliver.

The Union signed Borek Dockal on Wednesday morning, the 29-year-old Czech international playmaker who seems destined to wear the No. 10 shirt. Dockal doesn’t have the world’s most impressive resume, but he’s been a very good player in the Czech league and in the Europa league for a long time, and he’s banged home meaningful goals against the likes of Turkey, the Netherlands and Iceland in international competition. Without having seen him play I’m going to lay money on him clearing the “Better than Roland Alberg” bar.

Him, and Accam and C.J. Sapong and a healthy Fabian Herbers/Fafa Picault platoon is not going to be the best attack in the league. But they will not have to work as hard just to create middling chances as they did the past few years. There is balance, experience, speed and creativity there.

My worry this year is on the other side of the field, at least in part because of the youth movement. Auston Trusty looks locked in as a starter at center back, and there just aren’t a ton of 19-year-old center backs who’ve ever played well in MLS. Matthew Real, another Homegrown, could end up playing lots of minutes at left back. He’s 18. If Haris Medunjanin continues to be as poor as he was in preseason, 20-year-old Derrick Jones could be the d-mid. Jack Elliott, all of 22-year-old and in his second year as a pro, is the grizzled vet in front of Andre Blake.

I’ll go ahead and admit that I love this. Let Philly be the Ajax of MLS as far as I’m concerned. I think the fans will live with a couple years of non-Ajax-like results as long as they see the ethos they were promised.

WEEK 1 LINEUP

NOTE: I think Homegrown 18-year-old Anthony Fontana will get the start in Week 1 before Dockal takes over for good. I’ve also got Keegan Rosenberry pipping Raymon Gaddis at right back.

Minnesota United FC

I’m struggling with how to be gentle here, so I’ve decided to just go ahead and rip the bandaid off instead of easing into it. So here goes: I think there’s a decent chance Minnesota United will be worse in Year 2 than they were in Year 1.

Above and beyond everything else, there were three things that really worked for the Loons last year:

Sam Cronin solidified that central midfield, making them tough to break down

The Brent Kallman+Francisco Calvo CB combo worked pretty well

Christian Ramirez banged in goals at a DP-level

Well, Cronin’s been sidelined for unknown reasons (he missed a chunk of last year due to concussions), it looks like Michael Boxall – who wasn’t great – is preferred to Kallman or rookie Wyatt Omsberg (who will likely sign before the opener), and there’s a sneaking suspicion around the Twin Cities that Ramirez will be benched in favor of Abu Danladi.

So I’m just not sure that the things that worked in 2017 will be improved upon in 2018, and so in a lot of ways that makes this feel like a second straight expansion year. Obviously the scattershot way the front office has gone about collecting talent hasn’t helped even a little, but I think it’s fair to worry some about Adrian Heath’s decisions on the sideline as well.

The good news? Everybody in this league needs wingers, and MNUFC have a million of ’em. So if they need to swing another springtime trade like the one that netted them Cronin last year, they have the pieces to do so.

WEEK 1 LINEUP

NOTE: Bear in mind that I may be waaaaay off on this.

In terms of top-end talent, I think it’s fair to put LAFC in the same neighborhood as where Atlanta United last season. Carlos Vela was a roughly Giovinco-level player in Europe, and Diego Rossi is one of the biggest young (19) stars in Uruguay’s always bright attacking pipeline. Add in Portuguese playmaker Andre Horta (if they get him, and I think they will) and Colombian d-mid Eduard Atuesta – at age 20 one of the better d-mids in his native league – and it feels Five Stripes-ish, right?

In terms of filling out the rest of the roster, I think it’s fair to put LAFC in the same neighborhood as MNUFC last season. It’s taken them forever to even get up to 20 roster slots, the midfield is a mess (from the outside looking in, mind you), and I’ll admit a whole lot of “you know, I just don’t think that’s quite gonna work” about the backline.

More to the point, though, is that they simply don’t have the depth they need if things go wrong. What if Walker Zimmerman or Laurent Ciman continue with last year’s form, or if Benny Feilhaber hits the wall? Vela just pulled up lame; what now?

Atlanta had answers to these questions. LAFC don’t, that I can see.

Beyond that, it seems pretty clear they intend to play out of everything, and to use Feilhaber as a regista, a deep-lying playmaker who orchestrates more than creates. I love the idea behind it, but also let’s all just admit that the degree of difficulty for this gambit is damn near off the charts.

Of course, the rewards would be as well. It’s LA, so you’ve gotta go big or go home. Either way it should be entertaining as hell.

WEEK 1 LINEUP

NOTE: Some injuries, some uncertainty. What the hell, man, let’s just roll the ball out and see what happens!

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